


Only Fools

by GrimWednesday



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Humor, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Romance, Slice of Life, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2018-10-21 03:20:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 85,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10676634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrimWednesday/pseuds/GrimWednesday
Summary: Friday nights were probably supposed to be more exciting than watching Netflix and chilling by himself. Too bad Changkyun can't quite figure out how to make friends. This whole "college" thing is a bit of a drag.Changkyun feels irrationally nervous since this is the first time that Hoseok’s seen his room. Seeing his clothes scattered around the room, he lets out a stilted laugh. “I’m sorry, let me just clean this up.”Changkyun hurries to pick up the clothes, throwing them into the hamper quickly and starting to make his bed while Hoseok watches him with a small amused smile. When Changkyun starts reaching for the vacuum cleaner in the corner of the room, Hoseok laughs out loud and Changkyun jolts at the sound.“Relax, you little idiot, it’s just me,” Hoseok says and he walks forward and places his hands on Changkyun’s waist, closing the distance between them to kiss him soundly.





	1. Chapter 1

Face practically nose-first in the pages of a book, Changkyun isn’t paying attention to his footsteps or the small spray of rocks scattered on the concrete walkway. When he trips over said rocks, Changkyun falls forward with a surprised shout, landing harshly on the ground and hissing with displeasure as one of his hands scrapes against the cement and rubs away skin from his palm. 

Biting his tongue before he can curse, Changkyun glares unimpressed at the rocks as if they were responsible for his lack of awareness. 

Realizing that he’s in public, he raises his head tentatively and is instantly comforted in the fact that nobody else gives a damn; they’re not paying attention to him in the least. Quickly picking himself up, he bends down once more to grab his ruffled book and then readjusts his heavy backpack. 

Paying attention to his surroundings now that he’s fallen like an idiot, Changkyun continues on his way back to his dorm. 

It’s lunch time and he has an hour break before his afternoon class starts; he’s already wasted some time by focusing on his book as he walked, so now he has to hurry or he’ll run out of time to eat.

Clutching onto his book, he sighs deeply and looks around the campus. His dorm happens to be in of the buildings furthest from the quad, the center of campus. It royally sucks when he’s in a rush, and it felt like all throughout his first semester, Changkyun had been constantly running back and forth each day, doing more than enough exercise that anybody should have to. 

Perhaps if he didn’t eat as much junk food as he did, or if he actually knew how to cook, he would have lost weight by now or at least lost a couple of inches off his waist and stomach, but nonetheless, this is not the case. 

Before he knows it, Changkyun’s facing the front door of his dorm room. As he digs around his backpack for his keys, he absentmindedly listens to the sound coming from down the hall, the loud laughter coming from inside one of the rooms catching his attention. 

He doesn't realize that he’s just standing there, listening in to the faint sound of conversation until the sound of the elevator dinging brings him back to the present. With a start, he finally puts his key in the lock and opens the door, quickly going inside and closing it just as a couple of guys pass by his room and head down the hall. 

Looking around the messy room, Changkyun debates on whether he should tidy up a bit instead of making lunch but his stomach growls at that exact moment, as if to remind him that it would not be ignored. Right, lunch first. Not that he has many options; either ramen or some quick scrambled eggs with toast..

Five minutes later, Changkyun’s lounging on his bed, resting his back against the wall and watching Netflix on his old laptop while he halfheartedly eats from his cup of ramen. Technically you weren't supposed to place the cup the ramen came in into the microwave but Changkyun does it anyway because dumping out the contents into a bowl would require too much effort, especially since his brain’s still fried from the morning class. 

In between bites of ramen and being engrossed in watching a movie with subtitles which proves hard to do whenever he looks away to take a bite of food, he hardly notices when a knock sounds against his door. The rapping sound eventually captures his attention just as he starts chuckling at a particularly funny scene in the movie; he practically chokes on the noodle in his mouth, looking across the room at the door facing his bed and pausing the movie. 

Half-hoping that he’s imagined the sound, Changkyun frowns and considers whether to open the door. He really doesn’t want to; he always gets anxious when someone knocks on his door when he isn’t expecting it. But last time, it had been the grumpy RA that was going around each room informing everyone that the water was out; maybe this time it was another notice or emergency. 

Changkyun never has actual visitors, he can't imagine this time being any different. 

Mind made up, he’s halfway to the door when he hears the unmistakable sound of soft laughter and the hissed whispers of two or three people conversing. He practically freezes mid step and stares at the door. 

One more knock sounds at the door and with his breathing slowed down to avoid being heard, Changkyun inwardly wishes for the people behind it to go away, suddenly afraid of making conversation when he hardly knows any of his dorm neighbors. 

Besides, Changkyun can admit to himself that he’s a shitty conversationalist and he never knows what to say. He’s awkward to say the least so avoiding conversation is a defense mechanism to cope with how afraid he is of stumbling over his words or saying something weird and embarrassing himself. 

He gets his wish as soon after the third knock, he hears the sound of footsteps as they start to walk away from his room and head back down the hall. He only hesitates for a second before he walks to the door and looks through the peephole, hoping to catch a glimpse of the people before they fade from view.

He can only spy their hair color from behind although one of them in particular looks familiar, a slender form with tawny hair although he can't quite place from where he knows them or even who they are. 

Shrugging his shoulders at the weird occurrence, he walks back to his bed to finish his ramen. 

When he’s comfortably settled down and just about to resume playing his movie, he notices the time displayed in the corner of his laptop and he hisses in anger. Time’s slipped away from him and now he’s probably going to be late to class, which is going to suck because his instructor’s a hardass who makes a fool of anyone who arrives late, even by a minute. 

"Damn it," Changkyun mutters to himself as stuffs his feet in his shoes. Wrenching up his book bag from where he left it next to the door, he quickly leaves the room and locks it and runs all the way across campus, wheezing loudly and muttering curses under his breath. 

Late by a few minutes and holding onto his side because of a cramp, Changkyun pants harshly and tries to mute his heavy breathing as he tries to discreetly sneak into his seat in the back row of the lecture room. 

He’s almost there, almost there...

And then the lough cough from his professor distracts him as it’s followed by "Mr. Im, how nice of you to join us." 

Changkyun closes his eyes in disbelief at being caught. His teacher continues amidst giggles and soft laughter from the rest of the students. "Mind telling us a recap of last night's assigned reading to get us all up to date? I'm sure we all read it but it's nice to get a refresher."

Needless to say, Changkyun’s totally and completely fucked.

Recalling last night where he had stayed up late playing video games and browsing youtube videos instead of actually doing any of his work, Changkyun frantically tries to recall what the last chapter they had covered was. Cursing inwardly at the situation he’s in and hating his life, he starts sweating heavily from the embarrassment. 

Licking his lips in preparation, Changkyun opens his mouth to try to bullshit his way through the impromptu interrogation. "Well you see," he begins with false confidence and voice slightly trembling, word vomit falling out of his mouth as fast as his brain can think of it. 

A few minutes later and with ringing laughter from his classmates, Changkyun is finally allowed to sit down and wallow in shame while the actual lecture resumes.

Head down and glaring at his notebook as he tries to cool down his heated face, he doesn't notice his seat mate's amused expression as they watch him out of the corner of their eyes. 

* * *

The week seems to drag on more than usual and Changkyun is more than relieved when Friday finally rolls around. He has no other plans apart from sleeping in late and relaxing but before he can completely turn into a couch potato and watch netflix for hours, he has one small errand to do.

He’s run out of lead for his pencils so a trip to the convenience store close by the campus is necessary unless he wants to start borrowing pencils from his classmates, which he absolutely does not want to do. 

Changkyun quietly takes in his surroundings as he walks to the convenience store.

Walking down the sidewalk, he almost feels lost. The narrow street is crowded all along the straight path, whole groups of people walking by, the noise of people talking over each other and loud laughter echoing around the street, shining streetlights and the bright signs from the different shops illuminating the darkening street outside. 

It’s a good night to be out despite the fact that the weather’s a bit on the cool side. 

Everywhere you turn, there’s a multitude of things to do such as eating and drinking, playing arcade games or even going dancing at one of the many clubs dotted along the way.

Changkyun can recognize a few of the people milling around as some of his classmates and he inwardly longs to be able to join in to their revelry and fun. But he never made friends his first semester, too shy to strike up a conversation first and always hoping that somebody else would take the initiative and try to be his friend. 

But it had never happened and as the year went by, the groups of different people coming together had seemed to solidify into exclusive cliques. It was too late now, the time to make friends was long past and he was stuck as being the token loner in every class.

But looking around now with wide eyes that take in every intricate detail of his surroundings, ambling along and being bumped into by people too absorbed in their conversation to pay attention, he inwardly wishes that it wasn't too late. That he had the guts to go out there and talk to somebody, anybody, and make friends. Hell, maybe even get himself a boyfriend.

The thought of actually landing a date makes him snort out loud with wry amusement.

As he comes up to the convenience store, he looks through the glass and notices that it’s mostly empty. Going into the store and grabbing a pack of pencils and extra lead don’t take him long. 

As he passes by the small freezer section, he can't help but glance at the various packages of frozen food on display. It’s past dinner time and he still hasn't eaten. 

With a shrug and a slight frown, he reaches into the freezer and grabs a frozen pizza, knowing that he’s going to end up hating himself later for succumbing to the urge of eating junk food once again. But that was later, and right now, his stomach is rumbling with hunger. 

Once he pays for his things at the register, Changkyun heads back out into the busy street and starts the long walk back to his building at a brisk pace, feeling somewhat stupid for forgetting to grab his jacket before he left. Although the weather was tolerable when he first set out to do his shopping, it’s gradually getting colder as the evening turns to night. 

Changkyun, who hates the cold with a burning passion, is not fucking happy. Pursing his lips as someone once again bumps into him as they pass by running in the opposite direction as him, Changkyun frowns with quiet discontent.

It’s just his luck that once he’s safely in his dorm room and taking out the pizza out of its plastic wrapping, he realizes that he’s made a grave mistake. The huge slab of frozen pizza is way too big to fit inside his small microwave oven and he has no way of actually cooking it. 

“Dammit,” Changkyun grumbles under his breath, throwing the pizza down carelessly on his small eating table and then watching with disbelief as one of the legs breaks from the impact and sends the table and the pizza crashing to the ground. 

“Really? You’ve got to be _fucking_ kidding me.” 

Breathing heavily and glaring at the mess in front of him for several long minutes in which nothing changes, Changkyun finally stumbles over to his bed and plops down heavily with a long drawn out sigh that’s only partially muffled by his sheets. He can’t be bothered to do anything right now, frustrated as he is by everything. 

Instead, he listens to the sounds around him, something that was a constant in his dorm life as it was impossible to have some peace and quiet when he was surrounded by college students who made it their mission to get drunk and get laid as often as possible. 

Right now, he can even hear the tell-tale bed squeak and the sound of a headboard banging against the wall every few seconds from right next door. Further down, and fainter, is the sound of music blaring and people cheering and being generally obnoxious. 

Perhaps the noise would be too much for someone who had no experience dealing with it, but by now, Changkyun’s tragically used to it. Breath evening out and eyelids starting to close, it’s no surprise that he falls asleep only a few seconds later. 

The sound of a door slamming loudly wakes him up with a start. Looking around blearily, Changkyun yawns and sits up slowly, disoriented for a few seconds until he realizes that he fell asleep. After staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, he decides to check the time on his phone and curses when he realizes that it’s past eleven pm. He’s hungry as hell and it’s not surprising considering he skipped dinner. 

Rubbing at his eyes, he looks down at the floor where the pizza has defrosted slightly in the midst of large pieces of his cheap broken table. With a slight shrug, he gets up reluctantly from the warm bed and grabs the pizza in one hand and his phone and keys with the other. 

If he wants to eat the damn pizza, which he’s absolutely going to do regardless of the carpet fuzz stuck on it, because he paid for it dammit, than he’s going to have to use the dorm’s small kitchenette downstairs and wait for it to cook.

Preferably close enough to keep an eye on it because his fellow dorm residents steal food all the time, the filthy savages. 

He ends up placing the pizza in the oven and turning up the heat higher than he should, somewhat desperate because his stomach feels like it’s trying to eat itself.

After getting a glass of water to drink and trying to wake up a little more, he reluctantly heads over into the building’s singular common area that houses a couple of wide couches and small chairs dotted around the large room and a couple of tables for “studying” that hardly got used, if ever.

There’s not many people down here, most of them upstairs where the party is, and Changkyun is grateful for the small reprieve. He sits down in an uncomfortable chair that’s half-hidden in the corner of the room, next to a large fake potted plant. The only other people in the room are too engrossed in their conversation to pay attention to him, but at least they’ve got a movie playing on one of their laptops. 

Tired and bored, Changkyun watches the movie through half-slit eyes, every so often slapping away the long fronds of the fake plant that keep poking him in the face. He could move into another chair and be a lot more comfortable, but Changkyun is very committed to staying in the chair that he’s already warmed up with his butt. 

The noise of the party upstairs starts to annoy him, and he briefly wonders if the RA knows about it.

When a couple of people stumble through the common area that leads to the exit, drunk as hell and loudly fighting over what’s the best place to get tacos at midnight, Changkyun briefly scowls at them behind their backs, trying to focus on the movie and being distracted by their noisy drunken chatter. Although he only started watching it at its halfway point, the characters are so interesting that he can’t help but focus on the story while he tries to figure out what the hell is going on. 

He gets so immersed into the movie that the loud, screeching wail of the fire alarm startles him and makes him jump in his seat. Looking around, he tries to see what the hell is going on, but when the crowd of people upstairs starts to walk towards the exit, disgruntled and loudly cursing at the interruption, that’s when he starts to smell the acrid scent of burnt food and underneath that, faintly, is the smell of his precious pepperoni, charred extra crispy.

Belatedly, he realizes that he left his pizza in the oven a while ago and he doesn’t even know how much time has passed. He checks the time on his phone and grimaces, realizing that his pizza was ready more than half-an-hour ago and he never retrieved it from the oven. That must have been what set off the fire alarm.

Great, he was an arsonist now, although completely accidentally which probably defeated the purpose of using the word arsonist, but eh. Details. Either way, what a _wonderful_ way to start the weekend.

Rushing out of the dorm, Changkyun realizes that it’s still cold outside and he mentally curses at himself as he joins the crowd on the lawn, staying at the very edge of the congregation of people and hoping that nobody looks twice at him as they talk among themselves and try to figure out who was to blame for this fuckery. 

When the firefighters finally arrive, they part the crowd and quickly enter the building to check for the source of the alarm. Meanwhile, the drunk college students milling around loudly complain about the cold, pissing off the fire chief who looks ready to murder the idiot that set off the alarm. 

Said idiot is not about to speak up and admit their blame because he values his life, thank you very much.

Shivering from the cold, tired and hungry, and feeling guilty on top of it all, Changkyun decides that today has been one of the shittiest days he’s had in a long while. It doesn’t help that everybody is cuddling up to each other for warmth, and Changkyun, alone as ever, is seriously contemplating going over to stand right behind the ridiculously tall guy a few feet ahead of him and using him to block out the wind.

The only thing that deters him is the giant’s cheery laugh and the drunken, slurred conversation between him and his friends. He vaguely recognizes the giant as one of his classmates and Changkyun knows for a fact that he’s obnoxiously loud and speaks way too much, so he stays behind and tries not to freeze to death. 

It’s only a few minutes later that the crowd of people seems to part once again as a loud voice demands to know what the hell is going on, and then the crowd starts talking all at once, some of them complaining once again while a good handful start to leave the premises as if the party was over. 

Changkyun knows why, he can recognize his grumpy RA’s voice anywhere. His voice was normally sweet as honey but right now, it held an undertone that promised pain to anyone that got in his way.

Through the multitude of people, Changkyun spies the scary entity that’s his RA, Yoo Kihyun as he storms to the front of the crowd with a tall shadow following. All of 5′9″ and sporting cotton candy pink hair, he looks more way more intimidating than should be possible. 

Changkyun watches with dread as Kihyun walks up to the fire chief and starts a conversation with him while the firefighters finally start the process of clearing out, which meant putting away all of their gear and packing up the water hose and all of the minutiae that followed their protocol for fire alarms. 

After the whole affair is done and over with and the firefighters are gone, everybody tries to go back inside and warm up but Kihyun’s having none of it. 

“None of you fuckers is going anywhere until I find out who the hell set off the fire alarm! And why the fuck was there a party going on? There’s no parties allowed in the dorm!”

The remaining crowd of people grumble and complain as Kihyun goes around each huddled group, trying to figure out who had started the whole fiasco and refusing to let anybody enter the building until he got to the bottom of things. 

Unfortunately for Changkyun, trying to hide behind the tall giant doesn’t work out too well for him because when Kihyun finally comes around followed by his tall shadow, a tawny haired and slender guy, they both seem to hone in on him while he tries to shift away from the scene discreetly.

Freezing in his tracks, Changkyun purses his lips and tries not to look guilty while the people in front of him try to defend their innocence. 

“I know what you’re thinking, Kihyun-ah, but it wasn’t me! I don’t even like pizza,” the giant in front of him whines with a pouting look at the smaller male, his words slurring slightly. 

“You’re such a shitty liar, Park Chanyeol. Keep quiet you idiot, I know it wasn’t you,” Kihyun retorts with a slight glare. Chanyeol whines once again at the insult as his friends laugh at the interaction, one of them even giving Kihyun a high-five. 

“You on the other hand, look guilty as hell,” Kihyun practically growls, looking past Chanyeol and straight at Changkyun. Confused, Chanyeol and his friends look back and seem startled to find him there.

Gulping loudly as he’s surrounded by people who are looking at him in a mix of confusion and amusement, as well as Kihyun’s death glare boring into him, Changkyun gulps loudly and tries to smile, which comes out as a weird grimace instead. 

“Who me?”

Anything else that he could have possibly said to try to fool the pink haired male is foiled by the loud growling of his empty stomach as it makes itself known. At least Chanyeol and his friends are nice enough to try to smother their laughter, but Changkyun still feels like an idiot. 

Realizing that the jig is up, Changkyun deflates slightly and looks sheepishly at his RA. “I could really go for that pizza right now,” he admits with a mournful sigh.

Instead of laying into him in front of everybody, Kihyun sighs deeply and turns around, gaining the attention of the sparse crowd waiting to be let into the building.

“Everybody can go back inside!” Kihyun yells loudly to the relief of the remaining spectators. “And clean up your mess, Wang, or I’ll beat your ass!”

Said blond protests indignantly with a loud whining voice but runs back inside as soon as Kihyun steps forward threateningly. As soon a large portion of the crowd is back inside the building, Kihyun turns around.

He looks annoyed to find Chanyeol still there and waves him away like a fly. “Shoo Chanyeol, go inside you pest, and take your friends with you.” 

A black-haired male huffs and reached over to playfully smack Kihyun’s shoulder. “You know our names, you asshole,” he chortles out.

Kihyun only smirks as they start to drag a nosy Chanyeol away. “Bye Baekhyun, see you in class Monday.” 

Baekhyun nods in response and smiled good-naturedly as they all start to walk back inside.

Changkyun watches the whole episode while biting his lip and inwardly wishing that he could escape. The only people left out in the lawn of the building is Changkyun, Kihyun, and Kihyun’s friend who’s been mostly silent up 'til now.

When Kihyun finally turns back around to look at him, he looks a little less annoyed than he was earlier. Changkyun can only hope that it’s a good sign. Rather than wait to see if the pink-haired male is truly as mad as he seems, Changkyun clasps his hands together and bows deeply, murmuring apologies right away. “I’m sorry hyung, this is totally my fault. It won’t happen again,” he promises solemnly as he stares at the ground. 

It’s quiet for a solid minute before Changkyun finally dares to look up to find Kihyun rubbing at the bridge of his nose while his tawny-haired friend smiles hard in amusement at the boy that fizzled out Kihyun’s explosive temper in one fell swoop. 

“Why did it have to be you? I want to be angry at you dammit,” Kihyun murmurs though gritted teeth. “The fire chief fucking chewed me out and right now, all I want to do is beat the shit out of somebody—”

“I volunteer Hoseok,” his friend suggests with an impish grin. Kihyun’s mouth briefly twitches upwards but he ignores his friend while Changkyun starts sweating bullets at the implication. He would rather not fight; Kihyun is short but his stature has nothing to do with how vicious he can be. 

“—But,” Kihyun continues, rubbing at his temple now in aggravation, “But you’re the quietest student in this whole damn place and you’ve caused me the least amount of headaches out of all these fuckwits.” 

Changkyun smiles tentatively in hopes that he’s getting off scot free as he watches the tawny male push Kihyun away hard. 

“I live here too, asshole.” 

“You cause me the most headaches,” Kihyun grumbles back. Straightening up, Kihyun sighs and blows air upwards to ruffle his bangs. “Changkyun, I trust that you won’t set off the fire alarm again, just be more careful next time, alright?”

Changkyun nods dutifully while he crosses his arms and rubs at his forearms. “I promise hyung,” he solemnly answers. 

Kihyun frowns and seems to realize something as he suddenly glances at Changkyun from head to toe. “You’re not even wearing a sweater! Are you crazy, it’s freezing!” he exclaims in surprise. 

Changkyun licks his lips nervously. “I kind of left the building in a rush,” he mumbles out. “I mean, that’s what you’re supposed to do in case of a fire alarm?” he asks, voice rising towards the end in a questioning tone.

“That is what you’re supposed to do,” the tawny male accedes easily while Kihyun huffs despondently. 

“I can’t be mad at you, you look too pathetic right now,” Kihyun admits with a slight glare at the ground. 

“Thanks, I guess?” Changkyun responds, eyebrows knitted together in a slight frown. If looking pathetic is what gets him off the hook, then hoo-fucking-ray, but he also has no desire to see himself in a mirror right now if his appearance is _that_ tragic. 

Smirking slightly as if he can sense what Changkyun’s thinking, Kihyun hums in thought for a while.

“Tomorrow, you’ll have to clean the oven and scrub the walls in the kitchenette; they’ve gotten a bit smoke stained,” he patiently instructs. Changkyun tries not to show his displeasure at the task but he must do a bad job at it because both males start to laugh.

“I have a proposition,” the tawny male says. “How about you treat us to a late dinner and we help you clean up tomorrow?” 

At the mere mention of getting food, Changkyun starts to frantically nod his head in agreement. He thinks he overdid it when Kihyun and his friend laugh and Changkyun looks down, embarrassed as hell but grateful for the presented opportunity.

“If that’s okay with Kihyun-hyung, I would definitely appreciate it.”

“That’s perfect, Changkyun. And I know exactly where to go.” He shows off a gummy smile that sends a shiver down Changkyun’s spine and with trepidation, he follows the older males as they lead him away from the dorm and towards the parking lot where one of their cars is parked. 

Though he refused their offer to go up to the dorm and get a coat or something, he can’t help but shiver as they make their way through the dewy and cold grass of the lawn. 

Before they get much further, the tawny male takes off his jacket and hands it over for him to wear. His protests are drowned out as he’s practically forced into the jacket by Kihyun.

“It’s okay, Hyungwon is practically reptilian. He doesn’t feel the cold as much as we normal humans do.”

Changkyun tries to hold in his smile but he can’t as he catches sight of the slender male flipping off Kihyun behind his back with a deadpan expression. 

When they get to the car, Changkyun instantly takes the backseat and Hyungwon takes the passenger seat while Kihyun gets behind the wheel of the old but clean car with a minty scent coming from the air freshener in the shape of a pine tree hanging in the rearview mirror. 

On their way to the restaurant, or cafe, or wherever the hell they’re going, Changkyun briefly thinks about the state of his wallet and hopes to hell that dinner won’t be super expensive.

Listening to the faint sound of the music playing in the background, he tries not to make it obvious that he’s staring at the tawny male, Hyungwon. It seems silly for Changkyun to forget such a pretty face but he can’t help but to admit that this was just the case. 

Hearing Hyungwon’s name had triggered a sense of familiarity in Changkyun who quickly realized that the tawny male must be in one of his classes, but which one? He hardly ever payed attention to his classmates so he has no clue whatsoever.

Pensively, he watches as Hyungwon sends out rapid fire text messages on his cell while Kihyun hums along to the pop song currently playing. Only a few minutes later, Hyungwon looks up from his phone and decidedly turns back to look at him, a smirk playing on the corner of his lips. 

“You don't remember me at all, do you?” 

While true, Changkyun tries to keep an even expression not to give himself away, and hums. “Ah, hyung is in my class, right?” 

Hyungwon’s smile transforms into a wide grin. “Which class?” 

Changkyun starts to sweat and he can practically feel heat invading his face. “Chemistry,” he guesses with false confidence. Perhaps it would have been better to just admit to the elder that he has no recollection of seeing him in class but hindsight is 20/20 and Changkyun is a bit of an idiot at times. A lot of the time, actually. 

“Hm, that’s right,” Hyungwon acquiesces. “I’m also in your Comm and Trigonometry classes.”

Changkyun’s eyes widen at the realization and he feels a sense of awkwardness at having completely missed Hyungwon in all three of his classes. Changkyun lets out a stilted laugh and scratches at his scalp while he looks back down at his lap. “Ah, hyung, I’m sorry but I didn’t really notice. I’m always distracted in class.”

Waving away the apology, Hyungwon continues to grin. “It’s okay, I don’t blame you for drifting off in class. Especially Comm, that class is a complete drag.”

“You don’t get to say that, try having Reid first thing in the morning,” Kihyun pipes up beside him. “Guy has it out for me and I’m pretty sure it’s because of my hair.” 

Hyungwon and Changkyun laugh at Kihyun’s churlish expression. Changkyun remembers having Reid as a teacher in the first semester of the year and he had nearly dropped out of the class because he hated it so much.

It’s only a few minutes later that they arrive at their destination. Closing the door of the car soundly behind him, Changkyun looks into the glass windows of the place and is surprised to see that it’s busy even at one in the morning. Then again, the diner was relatively close by the college campus and one am was practically early for college students. 

Following behind Hyungwon and Kihyun as they enter the diner, Changkyun stays relatively close by behind them but not enough to annoy them with his close proximity. The noise of the diner isn’t as bad as it appears at first sight but seeing that large amount of people is somewhat unsettling to him.

The older males in front of him greet people as they pass by, though they only converse shortly before they move on. Changkyun never knows whether to introduce himself or to remain quiet. Even though it might appear unfriendly, he remains quiet because he doesn’t want to appear rude if he interrupts the conversation. 

“Hey, you guys came to visit me!” A bright voice interjects right behind Changkyun, who whirls around abruptly and is met with the sight of a cheerful blond as he continues past Changkyun and stops beside Kihyun to pinch his cheek. “I knew you missed me this morning, you little rascals.” 

Hyungwon snorts while a glaring Kihyun pushes the blond away and rubs at his cheek. 

“Just show us to a table, Min-ah. We’re all hungry,” Hyungwon interrupts before Kihyun starts a fight in the middle of the diner.

The blond laughs at Kihyun’s glare, undeterred by the hostility, and starts to lead them to the very back of the restaurant where there is an empty table right at the very corner. Changkyun slides to the inside of the booth on one side and Hyungwon sits next to him while Kihyun takes up the other spot on the opposite side. 

“Hi, I’m Minhyuk,” the blond introduces himself with a smile while he sits down next to Kihyun. He’s staring at Changkyun curiously, probably because they’ve never met before.

“I’m Changkyun, nice to meet you,” Changkyun introduces himself quietly, biting his lip and then smiling tentatively. To be honest, it was hard for Changkyun to be nonchalant in front of handsome people; he always got irrationally nervous whenever he had to interact with anyone that was pretty or handsome. It was enough with Hyungwon and Kihyun, but adding Minhyuk to the mix was a little too much for Changkyun.

Instead of focusing on the blond’s handsome face and welcoming smile, Changkyun looks down at the menu in front of him and scans through it, and most importantly, the prices. 

“Ah right, you’re hungry. Go ahead and tell me your drink orders and I’ll be right back,” Minhyuk says as he stands up abruptly and brings out a small notepad out of the black apron tied around his waist. 

“Black coffee,” Kihyun orders without looking at the menu.

“The usual,” Hyungwon says through a small yawn, covering his mouth as his eyes tear up slightly.

“Coke please,” Changkyun politely orders and is rewarded by another smile.

“So polite,” Minhyuk compliments, “I like him, let’s keep him.”

Changkyun tries to pretend that those words didn’t just flood his whole body with warmth and a sense of elation. Judging by the hint of a smile on Hyungwon's face, he must fail, and Changkyun raises the menu to hide his face for a few minutes while he composes himself.

“You should stop adopting kids, we landed with Jooheon last time and he’s a fucking handful,” Kihyun complains while Minhyuk writes down all of their orders on his notepad. “And why are you even writing that down, I know you can remember our order.”

“Well yeah, but I just got this cute pen and I want to use it,” Minhyuk responds, showing off the bright pink pen as he twirls it around. He leaves before Kihyun can begin to insult it and Changkyun watches him as he heads behind the counter and starts conversing with his coworkers while he fixes their drinks quickly.

“Sorry if he starts stalking you, he likes cute things.” Hyungwon tells Changkyun with a blank stare. Changkyun can’t tell if he’s serious or not, so he just nods his head slowly in understanding.

“That’s okay, he’s handsome,” Changkyun reassures the elder. When his brain catches up to his words, he flinches and slaps a hand to his mouth in disconcertment. “I mean, uh, he’s not handsome—wait, wait, that came out wrong! He is handsome but I didn’t mean to say it out loud, it just slipped out,” he stammers out, his face heating up from embarrassment.

Kihyun and Hyungwon stifle their laughter when Minhyuk practically beams at Changkyun, obviously having overheard the conversation. Minhyuk hands out their drinks and Changkyun takes his and chews on the end of the straw nervously, resolutely avoiding everyone’s gaze. Ah, why was he always so weird? 

Having already decided what he wants to eat, Changkyun orders his meal after Hyungwon and then sits there and listens to the conversation, deciding that it might be best if he didn’t contribute for fear of saying something stupid again. The next half-an-hour passes by fast, and after the crowd has died down a lot, Minhyuk sighs loudly and sits down next to Kihyun to relax for a bit while he has time.

“What’s up with you today, Kihyun-ah?” Minhyuk asks while he steals fries from Hyungwon’s plate. “You seem a little down.”

Kihyun shrugs his shoulders and sighs. “Just a bunch of things, I guess. Jackson, the idiot, planned another party today when he damn well knew I would be gone for most of the night. I guess it was lucky that I decided to come back home early or I wouldn’t have known. And Changkyun had an accident and set off the fire alarm; when I got there, the fire chief was pretty pissed off and he chewed me out. I guess cause it’s the sixth time time this year that it’s gone off on our dorm. But I can’t help it! I can’t stop everyone in the dorm from doing stupid things! I’m only one person!”

Tirade over, Kihyun exhales loudly and finally deflates, leaning into Minhyuk and accepting the hug from his friend. 

“I’m sorry hyung,” Changkyun apologizes once again, feeling like shit once he sees how much Kihyun has on his plate and how much trouble he brought upon the elder. 

Hyungwon reaches over and pats his head in consolation, and Kihyun smiles softly at him from across the table. “It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize again, I know it was an accident."

Changkyun doesn't quite believe that the Kihyun is okay; his expression is still somewhat strained. Still, he stays quiet.

"Hmm, you finished eating, right? We better head back to the dorm before Hyungwon falls asleep on his food.”

“I’m not sleepy,” Hyungwon complains, though he gets up when the pink-haired male stands up and gets ready to leave. 

“Sure, that’s why you’ve been yawning for the past hour or so,” Kihyun retorts with a roll of his eyes. “I told you to go to bed early last night but you ignored me in favor of watching that drama.”

While they bicker back and forth, Changkyun tries to figure out if the bill is going to be brought to the table or if he’s going to have to go to the register to pay, but Minhyuk seems to understand his dilemma because he smiles and leans in close. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not charging you guys for the meal. You don’t have to pay anything.”

Taken aback, Changkyun shakes his head back and forth in denial. “Oh hyung, you don’t have to do that, please let me pay. After all, I’m supposed to treat Kihyun and Hyungwon, so I don’t mind paying.”

Before anything further can be said, Hyungwon throws an arm around his shoulders and practically drags him away while Kihyun follows, fastening his coat tighter around himself in preparation to step back outside. 

“See you tomorrow, Min-ah,” Hyungwon says as they start to walk to the exit, arm holding on tighter to the younger boy who keeps trying to turn back to pay. 

“Let hyungs take care of you, Changkyun-ah,” Kihyun murmurs as they step outside. Minhyuk waves goodbye at them through the glass window and Changkyun belatedly waves back at the blond before he steps into the car. 

“Before you feel guilty or something, this was our plan all along. Minhyuk’s aunt owns the diner and she feeds us for free, and trust me, she won’t let Minhyuk take our money. We’ve tried,” Kihyun says with a fond smile.

Changkyun sits in the back seat and feels grateful that he didn’t have to spend his money but he really can’t help feeling guilty and confused at the same time. The car ride goes by quickly and Hyungwon even manages to snooze in the car while Kihyun hums softly to the songs on the radio.

When they get back to the dorm, Changkyun wraps his arms around himself again and follows the elder males as they all head to the elevator in the lobby. Hyungwon leans into Kihyun sleepily and mumbles that he’ll crash at his place so when they get to the third floor, everyone gets out since Kihyun and Changkyun happen to share the same floor. Kihyun and Hyungwon say goodnight to him and they start to head down to the end of the hallway to the very last door. 

Stopping in front of his own door and getting out his keys, Changkyun stops suddenly and looks back at the elder males as they walk away from him. 

Before he can help it, he speaks out. “Ah hyungs,” he says hesitantly and Kihyun and Hyungwon both stop and look back at him curiously. 

“I was just wondering...why did you take me with you if you didn’t need me to pay for your meals? I was supposed to treat you in exchange for your help,” Changkyun says quietly, hoping that he doesn’t appear to be ungrateful. He just wants to understand. 

“We just wanted your company, Changkyun-ah,” Kihyun admits and Hyungwon walks forward to ruffle his hair, smiling while Changkyun stares back at them with wide, surprised eyes.

“See you tomorrow,” Hyungwon promises and with a wide sleepy smile, turns around and together with Kihyun, they both head back down the hallway, walking away nonchalantly as if they hadn’t just given him a heart attack. Changkyun has to try several times before his key finally fits into the lock, but it must be because his shaky hands are too unsteady. 

When he finally enters his room, he doesn’t bother turning on the light, finding his way across the short room while expertly avoiding the broken table through mere muscle memory before his legs hit the edge of his bed. Sinking down into the mattress, he lays down and curls up into the unmade covers and exhales deeply. 

Sleep evades him as a million thoughts race across his mind, and it’s only hours later after his brain has picked apart every moment of his evening and every word spoken or every touch shared that he finally relaxes enough to enter a deep slumber.

* * *

On Saturday, Changkyun wakes up around ten am and takes a shower in his small bathroom, hoping that the dark circles under his eyes can be covered up by makeup. He tries it and it kind of works, and either way, they kind of distract from the acne scars on his cheekbones that have never gone away after high school. Since he’s going to be cleaning, he wears a loose gray t-shirt and a pair of comfy track pants that should keep him relatively warm.

Not exactly sure of when he’s supposed to meet up with Kihyun and Hyungwon, and too chicken shit to go over and knock on Kihyun’s door to find out, he decides to just head downstairs and get started either way. Even if Kihyun and Hyungwon arrive way later after he’s already finished cleaning up the kitchen, he won’t mind. It would actually make him feel better about the fact that he didn’t pay for their dinner yesterday. 

Grabbing his keys, his cellphone and Hyungwon’s jacket that he forgot to return yesterday, he leaves his room and takes the elevator to the first floor. The lobby seems to be empty at this time of day, though Changkyun’s not exactly surprised; if he didn’t have anything to do today, he’d still be laying in bed.

When he walks to the right and heads to the common room with the couches and the tables, he’s stopped short by the sight of Hyungwon and Kihyun lounging on one of the couches, Hyungwon almost taking up the whole couch by himself as he lays across it with his head on Kihyun’s lap. 

Kihyun notices him first, and he nudges Hyungwon until he sits up so that they both can stand up. “Good morning, Changkyun,” he greets with small and tired grin.

Changkyun answers in turn and greets Hyungwon as well, following after Kihyun who leads the way to the kitchen.

“I thought we could clean up, take a shower if necessary and make some lunch if that’s okay?”

Changkyun quickly nods in response. “Ah, that’s fine with me! Oh, and before I forget, here you go hyung,” Changkyun speaks up and hands Hyungwon his jacket back. 

The taller male smiles placidly and places it on the back of a chair before he yawns widely and then mumbles back a thanks. 

It appears that Hyungwon and Kihyun are still sleepy and Changkyun feels bad that they both had to wake up early to help him out. After they split up their respective tasks, they each go their separate way and start cleaning. Apart from suggestions from Kihyun on the best way to clean certain things, the conversation between all three of them can be described as stilted, at best.

It goes this way for a whole hour, and with every passing minute, disappointment makes itself known in Changkyun through small cues such as his hunched over posture and his bitten, red lips. He had hoped that it would be easier to converse to the older males today but with them being generally quiet, Changkyun couldn’t find it in himself to speak up and start the conversation first. And even if he did, what would he say? 

A shrill ringtone interrupts the quiet atmosphere and Changkyun looks back to watch Hyungwon looking at his flashing phone with dry amusement. “Hoseok is calling again,” he monotones, and Kihyun groans loudly from deep inside the guts of the charred oven. 

“I’ve had enough of that idiot, don’t answer!” Kihyun pleads, to no avail. Hyungwon laughs at the garnered response and answers the call, sitting down on a nearby chair to relax as he listens to his friend speaking.

Changkyun tries not to be rude and eavesdrop, but he can’t help but to catch small phrases here and there coming from the speaker on the other side of the conversation. From what he can gather, it’s something about a get-together or something, and altogether disinterested at this point because no way in hell is he invited, Changkyun gets back to cleaning the wall he’s attempting to revert back to its original white color.

Since he’s trying to clean the highest part of the wall where it joins the ceiling, he’s had to grab a chair to stand on it just to be able to reach the top and his arms are becoming strained and sore at the task. It would be safe to say that it’s not going too well. 

When Changkyun stretches upwards on his tip toes to reach a particularly stubborn smoke stain, he overbalances and lets out a surprised shout as he starts to fall. The sound of a chair scraping harshly against the floor and the sound of rushed footsteps echo across the room before Hyungwon is suddenly there to catch him before he can completely fall to the ground. Changkyun grunts at the harsh impact against the older boy’s shoulder before Hyungwon is able to grab him safely with both arms and set him down on the ground. 

“Be careful,” Kihyun admonishes lightly as he walks forward to make sure that Changkyun’s alright. Apart from a twinge in his ankle, he feels perfectly fine, and Changkyun just blinks a couple of times as if to process what just happened before he smiles and starts to laugh at the situation, unbidden. 

“Thanks, Hyungwon,” he acknowledges while the elder watches him with amusement. The sounds of a tinny faint voice in the background seem to remind Hyungwon of his phone call and he goes back to his seat and picks up his phone from the center of the table where he carelessly dropped it in his rush.

“Calm down, I’m listening,” he monotones into the phone’s speaker while he smirks at Changkyun who is no longer smiling as Kihyun insists on checking his heel to make sure that nothing is broken.

Eventually he gives up and lets the other do what he wants, though afterwards he is forced to sit on a chair next to Hyungwon with ice on his ankle while Kihyun finishes cleaning the oven. It doesn’t take him too long since they were nearly finished anyway, and after Hyungwon hangs up the phone call, literally hangs up on the other person mid-sentence, he gets up to help Kihyun. 

While Kihyun starts to check the fridge for lunch ingredients, Hyungwon idly searches through the cabinets while he confides the fact that he can’t cook, making Changkyun laugh and admit the same.

“I give up, there’s nothing to eat here,” Kihyun forlornly expresses while he gazes into the depths of the empty fridge and a single bottle of ketchup stares back.

“Bam Bam and Yugyeom must have stolen all the food...again.” Hyungwon guesses, looking at Kihyun while the older boy narrows his eyes dangerously at the thought. Before he can begin premeditating murder, or whatever the hell that glint in his eye meant, they get a pleasant surprise in the form of Minhyuk walking through the doors of the kitchen. He greets everyone good morning with a smile before he sits across from Changkyun and relaxes, yawning slightly.

Changkyun is pretty damn sure that he didn’t even live in this dorm but neither Kihyun or Hyungwon question why he is suddenly there and he figures that it must be a regular occurrence. 

“Ah, Changkyun-ah, do you have a facebook? I tried looking you up last night but I couldn’t find you!” Minhyuk interrupts in the middle of Kihyun’s rant about his plans for the rowdy tenants of the building. Changkyun’s eyes widen and he remembers Hyungwon’s joking comment yesterday about being stalked by the blond boy. Well, he had thought it was a joke at first but he starts to rethink that when Minhyuk blinks at him patiently while he waits for an answer.

“Sorry hyung, I don’t have a facebook...or a twitter,” he adds as he correctly guesses Minhyuk’s next question.

Minhyuk briefly deflates before he perks back up quickly. “Phone?” He questions hopefully and Changkyun’s handing over his old cell before he even knows it, as if the blond’s liquid brown gaze hypnotized him. A few minutes later, he receives his phone back while Minhyuk smiles back at him and Kihyun’s rant continues in the background during the whole affair. 

“Yeah, yeah, we get it; throw their bodies in the dumpster and set it on fire—how about we concentrate on lunch? I’m starving,” Hyungwon interrupts Kihyun while he sits next to Minhyuk and leans into his shoulder, getting comfortable. 

Kihyun glares at him and after being deftly ignored, sighs loudly and gives up on the rant. After looking down at himself, he looks back at Changkyun and Hyungwon and hums in contemplation.

“How about the two of you go take a shower, you’re both dirty from the smoke—and Minhyuk and I will go pick up some food for lunch. Changkyun-ah, just go to my dorm room when you’re ready and Hyungwon will let you in.”

Feeling apprehensive about intruding once again, Changkyun starts to rethink eating lunch with them, especially now that Minhyuk’s joined them as well. He's not sure if they're inviting him to lunch out of politeness sake or because they actually want his company. He doesn't want to leave though, he's enjoying their presence too much so he belatedly accepts the invite once again. 

After they all agree, Changkyun and Hyungwon head back to the lobby to catch the elevator to the third floor. A couple of people are already in there when it opens, most notably a pretty red-haired boy and a group of three girls who are talking about the party last night. Hyungwon greets one of the girls briefly as they exit and then they board the elevator and ride up to the third floor, Changkyun distractedly looking at their reflection on the metallic doors.

“Changkyun-ah, are you feeling alright?”

Changkyun hadn’t realized that he was frowning until Hyungwon spoke up and he looks up at the taller boy sheepishly. “I’m fine, hyung,” he reassures the other, who doesn’t look too convinced.

With Hyungwon’s pensive gaze on him in the otherwise silent room, he can’t stop feeling the pressure to say something else to fill the silence. “I’m really bad at making conversation,” he belatedly explains. “And it’s quiet right now, so I feel like I have to say something even though I can’t think of anything,” he continues, words spilling out of his mouth in a rush. He doesn’t even know why he’s revealing all of this to the other boy, but it’s too late to take any of it back. 

Hyungwon doesn’t say anything for a bit, just hums in the familiar way that Kihyun does when he’s thinking. The elevator doors open and they both get out, after which Hyungwon stops next to Changkyun’s door and leans against the wall, pensively watching him. 

“Changkyun-ah, would you believe me if I told you that I’m anti-social?” Hyungwon doesn’t wait for Changkyun’s incredulous response before he continues on. “I don’t enjoy speaking to other people for an extended period of time, it physically drains me. When I get used to a certain person, that’s when it gets easier for me to speak to them comfortably and I’m finally able to relax in their presence. I think.. I think that you’re quiet similar to me, in some ways.”

Changkyun looks up at Hyungwon with wide eyes, and is utterly surprised when Hyungwon tugs on his arm and pulls him in for a warm hug. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, don't sweat it. Just be yourself."

"But I'm awkward," Changkyun reluctantly admits with a grimace and watches as Hyungwon glances at him in slight surprise before he bursts out laughing, eyes crinkled in amusement.

"Then be awkward, who gives a shit."

And Changkyun can’t think anything else to say, so he doesn’t, just stands there and reciprocates the hug while he pretends his insides aren't melting all over the dubiously stained floor from Hyungwon’s kindness. 

As soon as the hug ends, Changkyun grins shyly in thanks before he practically scurries into his room and slams the door behind him, flustered all of a sudden. Hyungwon's too fucking handsome, it's almost disorienting. Hyungwon's laughter rings in the hall as he walks away and Changkyun smiles.

He doesn’t even know what to do with himself after that and his brain goes on autopilot as he thinks about the earlier conversation in the hall. He ends up cleaning his room and finally throwing away the pieces of the broken table before he enters his bathroom and takes his second shower of the day. 

Getting ready takes him twice as long this time around because he actually tries to pick out nice clothes to wear. Looking at his closet in dismay, he decides that he might actually need to go shopping since all of his clothes are plain, loose, old, or a combination of all three. But he’s never really cared about his appearance before today.

Looking at the mirror above his sink, he bites at his lip and pulls at the dark green sweater he’s wearing, a Christmas present from one of his aunt’s that he’d thought he’d never use. It’s a bit loose but it’s made from a very smooth and warm fabric, and he thinks that it matches well with his blue jeans. 

Before he can second guess himself, he leaves his room once again with his keys, wallet and phone and starts the short walk to the end of the hall.

After knocking on the door of Kihyun’s room, he only has to wait a second before Hyungwon opens the door and Changkyun greets him again while he watches the male walk back towards the sofa on the opposite side of the room and sit down while towel drying his hair. After placing the towel on the back of the sofa carelessly, he runs his hand through the dark wet strands of his hair and ruffles them into a rugged mess that looks good on him.

Changkyun sits down next to Hyungwon on the other end of the sofa and looks around the room slowly, taking in every detail. Being the RA, Kihyun has the privilege of having two rooms. He can’t see the bedroom, but the first room seemed to be the living room with two medium sized sofas next to the wall with a large TV across from the sofas placed on a small entertainment center also holding a dvd-player and a few gaming consoles. There’s also a small kitchenette on the other side of the room with a small stove top and a microwave, and a bar with two stools that separates the kitchen area from the living room area.

Looking back at the living room area, Changkyun notices the pictures next; one wall is practically covered in different sized photo frames. Without realizing it, Changkyun stands up and walks over to the wall to take a closer look.

All of the pictures are different, there doesn’t seem to be a single unifying concept. Some are nature shots, pretty flowers and landscapes and interesting shots of the unique architecture of the buildings around campus. Some pictures are of animals or fireworks or the beach, but a large majority of the pictures are of people.

Everyone looks happy and carefree and he can spot Minhyuk and Hyungwon in a large majority of the pictures, hugging a handful of other people that Changkyun presumes are their other friends. Kihyun is only present in a handful of the pictures; presumably, he was behind the lens in most of the photos. 

“These photos are amazing,” Changkyun reveals to the only other person in the room. Changkyun looks back to gaze at Hyungwon, who is lounging comfortably on the sofa and looking like he’s right at home. 

“Kihyunnie’s a really good photographer,” Hyungwon replies with a hint of pride in his voice. “He’s actually majoring in music studies and photography, did you know that?” 

In awe, Changkyun shakes his head and returns to his previous seat on the sofa. “I had no idea. Hmm, how about you, hyung? What are you studying?”

“I’m going for a general business degree as a backup plan, but I actually want to be a model,” Hyungwon answers while he looks away and focuses on the pictures on the wall.

Somehow, Changkyun’s not surprised in the least. Hyungwon has the type of face that could launch a thousand ships, the lucky bastard.

"...Not that my parents are happy about that," Hyungwon confides. Changkyun's not sure whether he should say something to console the other but luckily, Hyungwon continues the conversation. “How about you? What are you studying, Changkyun-ah?” he asks while he looks curiously over at the younger. “It’s something to do with Chemistry, right?”

Changkyun looks surprised that Hyungwon knows that much and nods in agreement. “That’s right, I’m majoring in Biochemistry. How did you know, hyung?”

Hyungwon chuckles lightly, “I had a hunch. Besides, you’re pretty smart, you’ve always got the right answers for Trig and Chem. Especially Chemistry, you’re at the top of the class.”

Changkyun can feel himself getting red at the Hyungwon’s nonchalant observations, but he can’t help but feel happy that somebody’s noticed his scholarly achievements. Though Changkyun considers himself a chronic procrastinator, he always does well in school despite his midnight netflix binges.

“Intro to Comm, on the other hand,” Hyungwon continues with a teasing tone, and Changkyun looks up from his lap and laughs at the insinuation. Okay, so he mostly does well in school, except for a few choice classes which he didn't care for.

“I hate that teacher; he’s an asshole,” Changkyun concludes as way of explanation. They both look back at the door at the sound of footsteps right outside and a second later, the doorknob jiggles before the door opens to reveal Kihyun and Minhyuk, back from their excursion to get lunch. 

“Who’s an asshole? We overheard you right outside the door,” Minhyuk asks while he follows Kihyun to the kitchen.

“Wolfe, remember him?”

Minhyuk groans at the name and hangs his head. “The only C I’ve ever gotten,” he laments.

“Really? I would’ve thought it’d be more than that,” Kihyun muses with a tone of surprise. He’s obviously messing with Minhyuk but the blond doesn’t seem to care as he thumps Kihyun on the back with a hearty slap. “Stop trying to roast your friends and save all that savagery for your enemies.”

“Yeah, like Jackson,” Hyungwon adds with an expectant grin.

As if on cue, Kihyun practically growls. “Fucking Jackson,” he mutters under his breath. Changkyun snorts and tries to hide his laughter but he can't quite manage it, internally wondering if Jackson can feel a cold chill every time Kihyun curses him out. He kind of hopes so.

A few minutes later, they’ve got paper plates handed out and everyone’s filled their plates with food from the takeout place. Sitting down in the corner of the sofa, Changkyun stuffs food in his mouth and relaxes, listening to the conversation going on around him.

At one point, Hyungwon shoves a piece of cucumber in Minhyuk's face and practically cackles when the blond recoils at the sight. "Get away from me, you heathen," he snarls, and practically climbs into an amused Changkyun's lap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, the whole gang is introduced and Changkyun totally doesn't embarrass himself. Totally.
> 
> Please comment, I love getting feedback!
> 
>  
> 
> _work skin by museaway, modified by me._


	2. Chapter 2

Dullness sets in only hours after Changkyun returns to his dorm later on that evening. After spending hours being trounced repeatedly at a video game by Minhyuk and Kihyun, he gives up and graciously admits defeat, after which he retires back to his room of his own free will, feeling bad for taking up their time especially when their individual phones keep ringing at random intervals. He figures that they’ve got somewhere to be and decides to leave them to their own devices, figuring that they’re just entertaining him at this point for fear of being impolite. And maybe they’re not, and they’re actually enjoying spending time with him, but Changkyun’s paranoia is too strong to ignore. 

Before he settles in his room for the night, he decides to get some chores out of the way and the first thing he does is gather all of his dirty laundry and stuff it in the hamper. He grabs a couple of quarters and picks up the hamper and leaves his room to head downstairs to the laundry room. Washing and drying his clothes takes him about an hour and a half, and he spends the whole time seated on a shitty plastic chair while he waits for it to be done. At least the laundry room is empty, which is good for Changkyun, but it’s also rather boring just sitting there and browsing the web on his phone with the whirring sound of the machines in the background. He’s glad when it’s finally over. 

Only half-paying attention to where he’s going, he doesn’t realize that somebody is in the hall with him when he first gets out of the elevator on his floor. After he stumbles on his untied shoelace, some of his freshly-washed laundry tumbles out of the hamper and lands on the ground. Scowling deeply, Changkyun bends over to retrieve the clothes and then momentarily freezes as he hears the footsteps down the hall. Still crouching, he looks up quickly to see a silver-blond guy walking his way, bored eyes trained on the screen of his cellphone as he walks past. Distractedly, Changkyun notes that he’s handsome. Shaking himself from his reverie, he looks back down and grabs the warm clothes from the ground and throws them into the hamper, quickly getting back up and unlocking the door before entering the safe haven that is his room.

After he finishes folding his clothes, Changkyun ends up cleaning up his room a little more and properly puts away his books and the random knick-knacks lying around. Looking around, he debates on what to do next. He could go shopping for food, but he feels lazy enough to leave that chore for another day, instead looking around until he catches sight of his bookbag and his eyes unerringly stop there. 

For once, he’s actually motivated enough to start doing his assignments early instead of leaving them for last minute. He finishes the assigned reading for Comm and gets started on doing research for an essay that’s due at the end of the week. Hours later and halfway through searching for sources on wikipedia, he just...stops. He breathes deeply and blinks slowly at his surroundings. His worn desk has a multitude of sheets scattered around it, books half-opened or stacked haphazardly on top of each other and eraser shavings scattered across the surface of practically everything. The only light in the room is coming from his desk lamp, so when he looks away from it, he can only see the dark edges of his room. 

It’s honestly a little depressing—it’s Saturday night and he’s holed himself in his room like a hermit instead of socializing like a normal person. 

And maybe it’s because of what he got to experience earlier in the day that instead of sitting there and reflecting on the further inadequacies of his life, he abruptly stands up and walks away, literally knocking over his chair in his haste and walking out of his room without even thinking about grabbing his coat or his keys. He spares a glance at the door that’s at the very end of the long hallway and purposefully looks away after a brief moment of hesitation. The elevator trip down to the lobby is quick and so is the walk that takes him to the outside of the building and past the lawn and the sidewalk, past the buildings that he sees everyday until he’s in the middle of the crowded sidewalk downtown. It’s only been a day since Changkyun has been here, but it feels different, somehow. 

Sweating from the exertion of the long walk and his fast pace, Changkyun rests on a bench in front of the bus stop while he observes his surroundings. If possible, the street is more crowded than yesterday, which is practically an achievement. A pizza place right behind him is slammed busy and the smell of fried chicken and pizza is making him hungry. The karaoke bar across the street is packed and a group of drunk college students stumble outside as he watches. When one of them begins to sing, he looks away, his lips twitching at the bad rendition of the familiar pop song. He hears the faint sounds of music from different directions, and before he’s even finished cooling down, he abruptly gets up again and walks across the street, following the throng of people and walking further down the street until he’s a couple of blocks past the karaoke bar and looking up at the bright blue neon sign of a club. 

He almost feels a rush of adrenaline as he goes up to the doors of the place and he spots the bouncer waiting there, carding people. Changkyun’s not exactly twenty-one, but when he finally looks up at the intimidating looking man guarding the entrance, he just pats his back pocket and is relieved to feel his wallet. He pulls out his fake ID, inwardly thanking his older brother’s foresight, and shows it to the man while feeling sweat gathering at his nape, body starting to overheat at the possibility of being caught. The man glances at the ID briefly before giving him a passover and then opening the door and letting him go inside. 

Changkyun intrepidly enters the club, almost instantly assaulted by the loud music and the bright strobing lights that illuminate the place. Keeping to the edges, Changkyun looks at the tight mass of people dancing and grinding in the dance floor and he gulps at the feeling of dread that overtakes his body. It’s so loud inside the place, and there’s so many people talking and laughing; the smell of sex and cheap smokes invades his nostrils and before he knows it, Changkyun’s furtively looking for the bathrooms. He spots them on the opposite side of the room near the bar, and he doesn’t even know how he manages to go through the throng of people, but he emerges on the other side of the dance floor looking a little worse for wear with his clothes in slight disarray and a grimace on his face from the unpleasant experience. 

He escapes into the bathroom and glares at his own reflection in the mirror, absentmindedly turning on the tap and trying to convince himself that this wasn’t a horrible idea when it clearly was. After running cold water on his wrists to calm his racing nerves, he breathes out deeply and leaves the bathroom with only a modicum of composure. 

And okay, this isn’t exactly what he had in mind when he left his dorm, he didn’t think he’d be sitting at a corner of the bar by himself while he watches the different groups of people as they dance and laugh in front of him; but then again, he didn’t even have a plan when left in the first place. What is he even doing here? Is he trying to prove to himself that he’s a normal college student capable of making friends by himself? Because he can’t even muster the courage to go up to anybody and just talk. 

In his current state of mind, everything about the club starts to irritate him. The lights start to make his head hurt and the music is blaring too loud to be enjoyable but he pushes past the discomfort by sheer force of will. After a couple of minutes, he gets up on shaky legs and manages to walk halfway to the busy table he’s been watching while he thinks of a way to start a conversation with the raven-haired boy sitting at the very end. It’s probably his fault that he’s not paying enough attention because he gets in the way of another person leaving the bar and ends up with a drink spilled all over his green sweater. He recoils slightly and looks up at the tall guy that stares back down at him. 

“Sorry,” he apologizes and he’s relieved when the tall guy just shrugs his shoulders and mutters an apology back, continuing on his way back to the dance floor. Changkyun practically scurries back to his seat at the corner of the bar and slumps into his stool, looking down at his sweater and pulling it away from him as he grabs a handful of napkins and wipes at the stain to no avail. He smells like beer now and he feels sticky from the beverage soaked into his sweater. Frowning at the wooden countertop, he’s surprised when a heavy glass of bubbly amber is placed in front of him decisively. 

“Here kid, you look like you could use this.”

Changkyun looks up and is surprised to see the pretty silver-blond from the hallway earlier. Up close, he can see his sharp black eyes and the small beauty mark underneath the corner of his eye as well as his heart shaped lips. If possible, he looks even more pretty up close.

“Ah, I didn’t order this,” Changkyun stammers out and is surprised by the husky laugh that follows. The silver-blond smiles in amusement while pushing his unruly bangs out of his face and then reaches forward and pushes the drink even closer to him in encouragement. 

“It’s on the house, don’t worry about it you little idiot.”

And perhaps Changkyun should be insulted at that, but he doesn’t even get the chance before the silver-blond moves away and starts to tend to the customers further down the bar. As if the white button up shirt and the the small black apron tied loosely around his waist wasn’t enough to denote his status as the bartender, he’s also got a name tag pinned to the front of his shirt but he’s too far away for Changkyun to be able to read it. 

Tentatively gripping the glass in front of him, he sips at the liquid and isn’t at all surprised to see that it’s the club beer, the cheapest drink available. It’s not like Changkyun’s never gotten drunk before, so with a long drawn out sigh, he tilts his head back and chugs down half the glass in one go. Setting it down again, he wipes at his mouth and then looks further down the bar and watches the pretty bartender as he pours out drinks and takes money in return, stuffing it into the full register in a brusque but efficient manner. 

He finishes his first glass of beer and gets a refill from the small female bartender that’s working side by side with the silver-blond, and then he just sits there and people watches again, though he can’t help that his eyes keep straying back to the pretty male bartender without his permission. He would rather not admit that this is what he does for another hour, but he would be lying to himself because that’s exactly what he ends up doing.

After the female bartender catches him staring at her coworker, she smiles and winks and Changkyun’s so flustered at being caught that he decides to call it a night, laying down several bills underneath the glass as a tip before he stands up and starts to walk away while clutching at his head as his world spins around him momentarily in disorientation.

Walking across the heavy mass of bodies in the center of the room seems like an impossible task this time around, and he enters it with the same trepidation from earlier. His wariness is proven right when he’s only a quarter of the way through the mass and he gets pulled into the arms of a stranger, hands reaching up to tilt his head back and kiss him with all the care and finesse of a bull in a china shop. His teeth clink against the other person’s while his mouth is invaded by a rough tongue that matches the errant hands groping his ass. He grimaces and tries to shout and eventually manages to get a good enough grip on the other person’s shirt to push them away hard. He briefly sees the stranger’s eyes widen in surprise before Changkyun turns around and bolts, forcing his way through the crowd in a horrified panic.

He leaves the club and runs until he’s short of breath, walking for a couple of blocks more until the revolting feeling in his stomach is too much to handle and forces him to stop abruptly near an empty alley where he ducks into a crouch next to a dumpster and proceeds to throw up the chinese food from earlier in the day. 

He makes his way home in this manner, sweaty from the heat of the club, smelling strongly of beer, vomit, and cheap smoke and clutching at his aching head. It’s cold outside, and with his sweat slowly drying from the outside air, he eventually realizes that he forgot his jacket and laments its absence as he ambles down the road in an unsteady walk while he hugs himself and shivers. 

* * *

Changkyun spends the whole day in bed on Sunday. He ignores the occasional text making his phone flash and turns it around so he doesn't have to see the blinking notifications. He grabs the covers at his feet and drags them up, all the way over his head, effectively cutting off all light from reaching his bleary eyes.

* * *

When Monday finally arrives, Changkyun wakes up at the ass crack of dawn and takes a long hot shower, dresses quickly without regards for his wardrobe, eats a light breakfast consisting of a whole banana and a glass of water because why the hell not, and then grabs his book bag and makes his way to class.

He has two classes today, though it’s not much of a relief because both classes meet for three hours. His first class is kind of a drag, as they spend the time discussing the literary intricacies of the book they’re currently reading. Changkyun enjoys reading but he doesn’t enjoy reading boring books, so he kind of hates this class. He spends his time alternating between listening to the lecture and doodling on the corner of his notebook, drawing abstract shapes and practicing his cursive signature on his messy notes.

The class passes by relatively quickly and before he knows it, he’s on his way to his second class and sitting down on the chair at the end of the row all the way at the back of the room, where he usually sits. It’s close to the exit, and Changkyun prefers it that way. After relaxing into his seat and getting out his notebook and mechanical pencil, he sits in class and messes around on his phone while he waits. When there’s about five minutes left before class starts, he feels a soft tap on his shoulder and he looks up to see Hyungwon taking the seat next to him.

“Hey Changkyun-ah,” he greets with a lazy smile. He looks half-asleep and like he might have woken up less than fifteen minutes ago, which guessing by the loud yawn he lets out next, is probably the case. Regardless of that observation, Changkyun’s still bewildered by seeing the other boy. Hyungwon had told him that they shared some classes, but seeing him in person still feels unexpected.

“Hi, hyung,” he greets while he looks at the other with barely contained confusion. Hyungwon looks up from grabbing his notebook from his messenger bag and stares at Changkyun for just a moment before he laughs.

“I’ve been sitting next to you in this class since the beginning of the semester,” Hyungwon reveals in between peals of rumbling laughter. He looks extremely amused. 

“Are you sure?” Changkyun asks with a suspicious frown on his face. He absolutely has no recollection of this. 

“I’m pretty sure,” Hyungwon chuckles, reaching forward to tug at one of Changkyun’s stray fly away hairs in punishment for being so oblivious. 

Yelping at the abuse, Changkyun glares at the elder as he snickers. He doesn’t get the chance to say anything else as the lights in the room are turned off and the professor calls for attention while he starts a presentation on the projector. Changkyun follows along with the lecture while stealing glances at Hyungwon every once in awhile; who takes notes for all of twenty minutes before he seems to give up and starts to sway in his seat as he struggles not to fall asleep. By the end of the class, Hyungwon’s head is resting on his folded arms with his whole body slumped over, practically boneless. 

The reason why Changkyun hadn’t noticed that Hyungwon sat next to him in class is starting to look clearer by the second. However when the lights are turned back on and the class is dismissed, Hyungwon sits up instantly and starts to pack his stuff away, as if he’d never been asleep. 

“Good lecture,” Hyungwon remarks to Changkyun as follows him out of the class, slapping at his face lightly as if to wake himself up.

“You slept through practically all of it,” Changkun responds with a dubious glance at the elder. 

“Like I said, good lecture,” the elder teases and links Changkyun’s arm with his as he starts to walk to the exit. “Let’s go get lunch.” Changkyun smiles at the action, looking around to see if anybody’s ogling at them, but nobody is paying attention to either of them. 

Stomach rumbling, Changkyun doesn’t refuse the offer of lunch. They end up at the cafeteria which is pretty busy considering that this was peak lunch hour for a majority of the students. Changkyun grabs a chicken sandwich from the line as well as a carton of fries and a soda. Changkyun half expects Hyungwon to grab a salad considering his thin physique, so he’s surprised when the other packs his tray with more than two meals worth of food. After they pay, they head for the quad in unison and Hyungwon chooses a table away from the busy center of the quad where there’s considerably less people.

“If you’re cold, I can give you my jacket again,” Hyungwon prompts when he notices Changkyun’s slight shivering. It’s not like it’s particularly cold outside, but Changkyun’s got a pathetically low tolerance for the cold, and the table that they’re sitting on is under the shade of a large tree. 

“Nah, I’m alright,” he promises and tries to sit still as he starts to eat. In between bites of food, they share conversation about their weekend, Changkyun sheepishly confessing that he didn’t do much apart from start an essay, glossing over his disastrous night on Saturday. 

“I should probably start mine,” Hyungwon mumbles but less than a second later, he wrinkles his nose and frowns. “...Maybe tomorrow.” 

“I can help you if you want,” Changkyun offers while smiling, grabbing his drink to take a sip. When he’s suddenly engulfed in a brief hug from behind, he chokes and ends up spitting out the soda while he coughs. Somebody thumps him on the back while his coughing fit slowly subsides.

“I’m sorry!” Minhyuk whines apologetically and when Changkyun finally looks up with soda still dribbling from his chin, he’s mortified to see that they’ve got an audience. Standing a few feet away, he catches sight of Kihyun’s concerned face and a flash of silver-blond hair and narrowed eyes before he looks away and looks around frantically for a napkin, wiping at his mouth with his bare hand in an attempt to clean himself up.

“Let me help,” Minhyuk says shortly before he takes the seat next to him and starts to gently dab at his mouth and chin with the sleeve of his sweater.

“You’re gonna stain your clothes,” Changkyun mumbles under his breath, but the blond ignores him until Kihyun takes a seat next to Hyungwon and reaches across the table, offering Changkyun a napkin from his own tray. Changkyun gratefully takes it and turns around in his seat, quickly wiping his mouth and then looking down at his clothes and blotting at the jacket with the napkin, trying to wipe at the damp spot on his chest. 

“Maybe you should warn him next time before you scare the shit out of him,” Kihyun admonishes Minhyuk, who puffs his cheeks and blows out warm air, sullen.

“Sorry, Changkyunnie,” he apologizes again.

“It’s alright, hyung,” Changkyun says quietly. When he finally turns around, having cleaned himself as best as he could, he looks at the suddenly full table and panics. _Internally_ , of course. Hyungwon and Kihyun sit opposite of him but besides Kihyun sits a familiar silver-blond male with inquisitive eyes trained on him. Changkyun nearly chokes again at recognizing the bartender from Saturday night, but for the sake of his sanity, he quickly looks at the person sitting next to the silver-blond. Another stranger, a brunet with honey colored eyes and a dimpled smile who is laughing at an exchange that Changkyun missed. Minhyuk is sitting next to him and Changkyun can barely see the person sitting next to Minhyuk, but he’s appears to be a couple of inches taller than the blond and his bulky structure makes him seem intimidating.

Changkyun looks around the table of newly met acquaintances and complete strangers and debates introducing himself but is spared the trouble when the brunet does it first, having noticed Changkyun’s gaze. 

“Hey, Changkyun was it? I’m Jooheon! Nice to meet you, man,” he enthuses with crinkled half-closed eyes and a wide smile that relaxes Changkyun’s nerves, at least temporarily.

“I’m Hoseok,” the silver-blond greets next, smiling softly before he takes a small sip of his drink. He’s still watching Changkyun with his sharp black eyes but there’s no obvious flash of recognition. He probably doesn’t even remember Changkyun from their previous encounter in the club. If anything, he merely looks curious.

“I’m Hyunwoo, nice to meet you Changkyun,” the bulky raven greets from besides Minhyuk.

“Nice to meet you all,” Changkyun mumbles. He can't think of anything else to say so he stays quiet and looks down at his plate while he tries to finish the last of his fries while conversation starts up around him. A few minutes later, Minhyuk leans in close and taps on his arm to get his attention. 

“Changkyun-ah, did you not get my text messages on Sunday? You never responded,” he asks with a pouty expression. 

Feeling dreadful at the reminder, Changkyun bites at his lip roughly. “Sorry hyung, I was uh.. tired. I didn’t really notice your texts until late that night and I thought it was too late to respond.”

Straightening up all of a sudden, Minhyuk frowns. “Why were you so tired? Do you work on the weekends?”

After a moment of silence, Changkyun decides to be somewhat truthful. “Uh, I don’t have a job. I was just...hungover,” he sheepishly admits. The two beers at the club weren’t really enough to get him drunk, but the shots of vodka he’d drowned when he got home from the club sure as hell were. 

“Ah, you’re too young to be hungover, maknae,” Hyungwon teases from across the table with the slightest frown on his face.

Changkyun snorts. “You can’t be that much older than me, hyung.”

“I’m a 94 and you’re a 96 liner. I’m old enough, brat.”

“Oh, I’m not the maknae anymore? Sweet,” Jooheon says through a mouthful of pizza. 

Kihyun grabs a napkin and gives it to the messy brunet and then turns to look back at Changkyun. “Since you’re a freshman and I’m your RA, I feel like I have to warn you...make sure you’re drinking responsibly,” Kihyun stresses, looking at Changkyun with a slightly knowing gaze. “Alcohol can make you do some stupid things that you’ll regret.”

“Yah, do you really think you’re the one who should be talking about the dangers of drinking?” Hoseok interrupts with an incredulous eyebrow raise.

Kihyun’s ears flush red but his expression remains blank, eyes widened the slightest amount. “What are you talking about?”

Hoseok snorts and rolls his eyes. “Don’t give me that innocent look. Have you suddenly forgotten your sophomore year of college where you—”

“Hyung, don’t bring that up!” 

“—tried to streak across the football field naked during the homecoming game? You’re lucky that Minhyuk stopped you, which is a feat considering he was drunk off his ass too.”

“...Fuck,” Kihyun curses under his breath, ignoring the laughter that erupts around the table. 

“You never told me about this,” Hyungwon accuses through barely hidden amusement at Kihyun’s expense.

“Yeah, well, I’ve repressed the memory,” Kihyun grumbles with a disgruntled frown on his face as he glares at the unperturbed silver-blond sitting next to him. 

“Oh really? I’ve still got a video of you trying to take off your clothes while singing the national anthem, if you’re interested in refreshing your memory,” Minhyuk pipes up with a shit eating grin and Kihyun groans in embarrassment, trying to smack his head against the table though Hyungwon stops him forcibly with a hand on the nape of his neck. He’s forced to hang his head in midair in abject defeat.

“Fuck you guys, you’re the worst friends in the world. Especially you, Hoseok hyung.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Hoseok drawls with a small smirk. 

At the arrogant tone of his voice, Kihyun straightens up from his previously defeated slump and narrows his eyes. “Oh, don’t look so smug. Do you want me to bring up that time with the cherry bombs and the pool?”

“What, when the whole swim team swarmed me? It’s not my fault I’m too irresistible.”

“They were hardly swarming you, they just wanted you to stop throwing up in the pool.”

Hoseok shrugs but snickers under his breath. “Eh, details. Besides, I shouldn’t be held responsible for that night, it was the end of exam week. I’m entitled to have a lapse of judgement every once in awhile.”

“Is that what you call a lapse of judgement?!”

Watching the continuing spectacle of the debating friends, Minhyuk and Jooheon laugh while Hyunwoo continues to eat lunch in a completely calm manner. Changkyun just watches the debate through wide eyes while biting at the end of his straw, horribly fascinated as Kihyun and Hoseok trade insults as their argument starts to heat up.

Hyungwon abruptly stands up when Kihyun picks up a knife, presumably to throw at Hoseok. It’s one of the shitty plastic serrated ones from the cafeteria so it hardly counts but Hyungwon snatches it out of his hand nonetheless and throws it over his shoulder, sending it flying backwards to hit an unsuspecting stranger passing by.

“Oh my,” Hyungwon deadpans with obviously false alarm. “I’m going to be late.” 

Confused, Kihyun puts down the fork in his hand, his next line of attack, and turns to look back at the slim male standing beside him. “You don’t have any classes after this.” He looks confused, and so do the rest of his ragtag group of friends.

“I’m late to my afternoon nap,” Hyungwon informs them with an angelic smile and they collectively groan in unison, as if they should have known what he was going to say. Hyungwon then looks at Changkyun from across the table, who is obviously looking nervous at the thought of being left behind. He’d hardly spoken during all of lunch, though that might have just been because of the weird turn that the conversation had taken and the ensuing argument between Kihyun and Hoseok. “Come on, Changkyun-ah, I’ll give you a ride back to the dorm. You’ve finished eating, right?”

Changkyun hurriedly nods and stands up, grabbing his plastic tray and walking across the quad to throw away the remains of his lunch in the large trash can before he heads back to the table where the whole group of friends are gathered. The sight of Hyungwon bending down and pecking a small kiss at the corner of Kihyun’s mouth is somewhat of a surprise to him.

“See you later,” Kihyun murmurs and Hyungwon nods seriously before he straightens up, ignoring Jooheon and Minhyuk’s fake cooing at the display of affection as he waves goodbye halfheartedly to the rest of his friends. 

Perhaps Changkyun’s being paranoid, but he thinks that he feels Hoseok’s sharp eyes on him, but he can’t fathom why he’s being stared at or if he’s just imagining the transgression. It makes him nervous, and he avoids looking at the silver-blond when he mumbles a goodbye to the group and walks forward to follow Hyungwon’s leisurely pace as he walks away. Hyungwon takes off his jacket and hands it to him before he can take more than a couple of steps, and Changkyun looks at his stubborn companion and glares. 

“I don’t need it,” he protests once again, trying to appear stern. “I already have a jacket.” A small breeze blows past at that exact moment and he can’t help the cold chill that races up his spine, making him shiver violently. 

A minute later, he’s wearing the heavy jacket over his own clothes and trying to ignore Hyungwon’s smug smile and the laughter from the table of friends that they leave behind. 

* * *

That night, Changkyun gets acquainted with Hyungwon’s couch as he watches movies with the older male. They don’t talk much at first, but over the course of countless movies and sharing pop-culture trivia and discussing the plot, or lack thereof of each movie, Changkyun comes to find that he enjoys Hyungwon’s company. 

Perhaps Hyungwon and his friends also enjoy his company because for the rest of the week, he seems to end up in situations where he’s included in their tight-knit group of friends. After spending Monday evening in Hyungwon’s room, watching movies, he finds that the tall man starts to seek him out in the classes that they share and outside of class as well. To Changkyun’s surprise, he shares his Chemistry class with both Hyungwon and Hoseok, though he probably wouldn’t have known about it because they usually sit on the opposite side of the lecture hall than his own chosen spot. This is proved irrelevant when they move to sit next to him as if by unspoken invitation, and now he spends his Tuesday and Thursday mornings listening to Hyungwon and Hoseok’s inane chatter during the lecture. 

While he gets better acquainted with everyone in the group of friends, he naturally seeks out Hyungwon most of the time, though he’s not sure if it’s because of the other boy’s quiet nature or if it was because Hyungwon had naturally started to seek him out too. Because of this, Changkyun finds himself in Hyungwon’s company a lot, and by extension, Kihyun’s as well since Hyungwon likes to trail after Kihyun like his ever-present shadow.

Whenever he’s with Hyungwon, their time could either be spent talking about their day, or their family back at home, or their friends and the occurrences that happen around them. Sometimes, they didn’t talk to each other but for a few words in between long silences, and maybe it’s weird that Changkyun enjoys the latter so much, but he always finds himself unwinding in Hyungwon’s presence. 

* * *

A day before one of their major essays for Chem is due, Changkyun and Hyungwon go to a cafe near campus. Changkyun’s only visited the place once before a couple of months back, and like the first time when he visited, he’s overwhelmed by the cafe’s large drink selection. After he confesses to Hyungwon that he doesn’t know what half of the items on the menu are, the elder takes over when they get to the front of the register and confidently orders for both of them.

Changkyun pays, though only because he had the cash in hand and handed it to the cashier while Hyungwon was looking for his wallet. 

“Brat,” Hyungwon calls him fondly, and hands Changkyun the receipt when the cashier holds it out. “Pick a table and I’ll wait for our drinks,” Hyungwon tells him, looking at the long line waiting ahead of them with a defeated expression.

“I can wait,” Changkyun offers but the tawny-haired male declines with a wave of his hand. Changkyun takes the initiative and pulls on the strap of the messenger bag slung across Hyungwon’s shoulder and the latter catches the hint. He takes it off and hands it over to Changkyun, who carries the heavy bag carefully and walks over to an empty booth in the very corner of the cafe, where there’s hardly anyone around. Getting comfortable, Changkyun sits down and slowly unwinds the scarf from around his neck. After placing it besides himself, he fans himself slightly. Though it’s overcast outside and drizzling with cold rain, the inside of the cafe is warm and cozy, and there is an ever-present aroma of freshly brewed coffee. 

A few minutes later, Hyungwon comes back with both of their drinks, placing Changkyun’s plastic cup in front of him and sitting down across from him. Changkyun tentatively takes a sip of the mocha drink, burning the tip of his tongue from the hot liquid and hissing slightly. Still, it tastes good, and he hums appreciatively when he swallows another sip.

“It’s good,” Changkyun offers and watches as Hyungwon smiles.

“Let’s try the hot chocolate next time, you’ll like it.” 

Nodding his head in agreement, Changkyun sips on his drink and looks around at the busy cafe. It’s starting to slow down, which is good news for the harried workers that are busy fulfilling every order. He looks back at his friend across the table every once in awhile but he doesn’t want to make it seem like he’s hovering over Hyungwon. The purpose of visiting the cafe was for Hyungwon to finish writing an essay after all, and the elder has already pulled out his laptop and started working. Still, Hyungwon talks to him even while typing, seemingly very adept at multi-tasking. Changkyun would be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous of Hyungwon’s skills, he can barely concentrate on one thing at a time, doing two or three things simultaneously is nearly impossible for him. 

When Changkyun finishes his drink, he rattles the empty cup and debates getting another drink. “Does this drink have a lot of caffeine?” He only says it out loud hoping that Hyungwon will know the answer. He could always look it up on his phone’s browser but he would rather not bother.

“I’m not sure,” Hyungwon answers, and after humming shortly, he types in the inquiry on another tab in his browser.

“This chart I’m looking at says that the caffeine content is relatively mild.”

“Well, as long as I can sleep fine tonight.. I think I’m getting another coffee, do you want something else, hyung?”

Hyungwon hums again and continues to type. “I’m fine, Changkyunnie. Go ahead and get another drink.” 

Changkyun nods and stands up, walking to the register and placing his order. He tries not to smile too obviously at Hyungwon’s nickname, but he can’t help the glow of warmth that he feels inside his chest. It hasn’t even been three weeks since Changkyun officially met Hyungwon, but he already he feels so comfortable with the other.

Once he gets his drink, Changkyun walks back to his seat and sits down. Taking off the lid of his drink, he blows air into the cup in the hopes that it will cool down quicker. He’s already burnt his tongue once, no need for a repeat offence. Outside the glass window, he spies a downcast frame with pink hair as it rushes by. He turns around to watch the entrance in anticipation and sure enough, Kihyun enters the cafe a second later. He’s drenched from the drizzling rain outside and his pink locks are wet and sticking to his forehead. With the tired and grumpy expression on his face, he looks a little bit like misery personified.

Changkyun debates informing Hyungwon about the other’s appearance but he’s saved the trouble when he spots Kihyun walking towards them. He’s wearing a green polo and uniform black jeans, the outfit of the cafe employees. He usually works three days a week, and today happened to be one of them. Changkyun’s ninety-nine percent sure that this is the reason that Hyungwon suggested coming here today.

Kihyun sits next to him and Changkyun scoots over to give him more space. Hyungwon looks up from his typing and slowly takes in Kihyun’s appearance. 

“You look like a wet rat,” Hyungwon surmises with a small smirk. 

“Fuck off,” Kihyun grumbles and reaches forward to take Hyungwon’s own drink, taking off the lid and drowning the coffee in one shot. Hyungwon’s mouth twitches in amusement and he goes back to typing his essay.

“Bad day, hyung?” Changkyun questions, watching the pink-haired man as he slouches in his seat and sighs. 

“It was pretty shitty,” Kihyun admits. “We got assigned a group project this morning and I’m stuck with the laziest person in the class and another chick I don’t really know.” Sighing again, Kihyun hunches over some more and looks at Hyungwon through the wet strands of his bangs. “Apart from that, some asshole nearly crashed into me on the way here; he was texting or some shit, I don’t know, but I honked the shit out of my horn until he finally got the message…Oh yeah, and I forgot my umbrella,” Kihyun recalls absentmindedly. 

“Wait, wait, go back to that last part,” Hyungwon looks up bewildered, disbelief clear in his tone.

“The umbrella? Well, that’s kind of obvious isn’t it? You said it yourself, I look like a fucking wet rat,” Kihyun grumbles again, brushing aside the wet clumps of hair sticking to his forehead in annoyance. 

“Before that! You nearly crashed?” Eyebrows furrowed in consternation and worry, Hyungwon pushes his laptop closed in front of him and concentrates solely on his boyfriend.

“Oh that...to be fair, it wasn’t my fault. The asshole behind me almost didn’t stop in time at a red light, he was going way too fast,” Kihyun scowls. “Anyway, at least nothing happened, I guess. Apart from that mild heart attack when I thought I was gonna die, I’m perfectly fine.”

Hyungwon looks dumbfounded for a second before he regains his composure and narrows his eyes. “You’re not perfectly fine, you’re just acting like you’re pissed because you don’t want us to see how scared you are.”

At the sudden stare down between Kihyun and Hyungwon, Changkyun starts to feel like he’s intruding. He keeps still but he has an inexplicable urge to slink down in his seat until he’s underneath the table where can crawl away to the exit. The only reason he doesn’t is because Kihyun’s got a death grip on his thigh and when the hell did that happen? Changkyun assumes the action is subconscious because the two don’t seem to realize that he’s still here, almost like the world melted away and narrowed down to the stare off that they’re currently having.

Eventually, Kihyun looks away and seems to admit defeat. “I don’t know why you feel the need to expose my feelings in front of other people when you know I’ll tell you later anyway.” He glares at a couple of nosy bystanders waiting for their orders that are sneaking curious glances at their table and then reaches for Changkyun’s drink and doesn’t ask before he takes off the lid and takes a sip. Changkyun doesn’t care, he’s just grateful that his thigh has been released from Kihyun’s deceptively tight grip.

Across from them, Hyungwon’s sharp eyes focus on the slight tremor of Kihyun’s left hand as he tugs at his sleeve in a nervous tic. It makes him bite at his lip. “I’m sorry, Kihyun-ah. You know I have shitty timing.”

Kihyun says nothing but the corners of his lips quirk up the slightest amount. Hyungwon considers it a victory. “How about you blow off work so we can go bother Hoseok? That always cheers you up.” 

Changkyun watches as Kihyun turns around to look at the rest of the cafe with consideration. There’s a small amount of people in line and there’s two employees milling behind the dark green counter but Kihyun keeps looking around as if searching for a specific person.

“I’ll try to take the day off, but no guarantees. My manager’s a hardass,” he complains with bite. He gets up and walks off to greet his coworkers, all the while fiddling with his wet hair and trying to style it to look more presentable. A second later, he’s heading towards the short hallway leading to the back of the cafe. Presumably, his manager’s office is somewhere back there. 

Changkyun turns to look back at Hyungwon and watches as the other packs away his laptop and his notebook and pen where he’d been reading over his notes. 

“I hope you don’t mind going over to Hoseok hyung’s apartment - he shares the space with Minhyuk, Hyunwoo, and Jooheon. You haven’t been there before so I’m warning you that it can get a little...crazy.” Hyungwon grins as he says it though, so it can’t be too horrible. 

Changkyun tries to appear as if he’s considering the offer seriously for all of a few seconds before his eagerness betrays him and he ends up smiling in return. “I don’t mind. It sounds fun.” 

* * *

Hyungwon wasn’t too far off the mark when he had warned Changkyun earlier. It’s only been a few minutes and he already feels slightly overwhelmed. It might have something to do with Minhyuk’s excited banshee scream at seeing them waiting outside the door or perhaps it’s the sight that greets them when they enter; a large flat screen tv displaying an anime that is blaring in the background, Hyunwoo snoring loudly on the couch meanwhile Jooheon is playing on the ground with a tiny chocolate toy poodle that keeps ignoring his imploring commands to _roll over, pretty please_ while it barks at the sight of visitors. 

Changkyun steps into the apartment after taking off his wet shoes and exhales softly at the warm atmosphere of the apartment so unlike the weather outside. He follows Hyungwon and Kihyun as they head for the couch, taking off their wet jackets and in Kihyun’s case, reaching for the towel that Jooheon hands him so that he can dry off his hair. 

As if sensing that they have company, Hyunwoo wakes and looks around blearily for a few seconds while he takes in the situation. A minute later, he reaches for the remote control and lowers the volume of the TV almost all the way down, making the whole apartment quieter, though not by much as the tiny chocolate poodle continues to bark. Sitting down on an empty sofa, Changkyun feels embarrassed as he notices that the pup is nervous because of him as it directs its barking in his direction, dark beady eyes staring at him unwaveringly. 

“Here, Changkyun-ah, feed him some treats and he’ll get used to you in no time,” Minhyuk encourages, handing him a plastic resealable bag. Changkyun opens the bag and grabs a couple of the bone-shaped treats, walking forward until he’s in front of Jooheon who is petting the dog in an attempt to keep it calm. 

He hesitates because he’s afraid that he’s going to be bitten. Regardless of the size of the toy poodle, it still had sharp teeth that were currently bared at Changkyun as it growled deep in its throat.

“Princess is all bark and no bite, I promise,” Jooheon reassures with a small grin.

Changkyun trusts Jooheon’s words and opens his palm in front of the tiny dog, showing him the treats. A second later, the poodle is eating out of his hand and crunching on the treats, a small amount of drool landing on his hand which makes him grimace slightly before he laughs and tentatively starts to pet the chocolate poodle named Princess. Even after finishing the treats, it starts to lean into Changkyun’s hand as he pets it, tongue lolling out in contentment at the treatment.

“Can I pick her up?” Changkyun asks and Jooheon quickly agrees, getting up from the ground and groaning at his sore knees.

With the puppy safely nestled into his chest, Changkyun is coerced into sitting next to Kihyun who leans next to Changkyun and starts to pet the puppy. Everyone else settles into the two sofas and Hyunwoo brings out a plate of cookies from the kitchen, setting them on the coffee table in front of the sofa for everyone to enjoy. Feeling as if something’s off, Changkyun looks around the apartment surreptitiously and tries to figure out why he feels that way. When he looks back at the group gathered around, he’s hit with the sudden realization that Hoseok is missing.

Shrugging off the need to ask why the silver-blond is absent, he tunes into the conversation unfolding, something about a party going on in two weeks, hosted by one of Minhyuk’s rich friends. 

“Just because he invited everyone doesn’t mean we should go,” Kihyun says as he looks right at Minhyuk and rubs at the poodle’s head absentmindedly. 

“I want to go, Mark invited me personally,” Minhyuk objects, looking around his group of friends and pleading them silently. “It’ll be fun, I promise. Free beer and entertainment, what else do you need? Besides, Mark’s been pissed at Jackson for some reason or another and Jackson’s bound to try to do something stupid to get on his good side again.”

“That’s just another reason not to go,” Hyungwon interrupts, laughing loudly when Minhyuk whines.

Jooheon sighs loudly in exasperation. “Hyung, the last party you dragged us to was shit, the only one who had fun was Hoseok hyungie. Do we really have to go to this one? I mean, it’s probably going to be packed, not to mention that the football team is going and they’re all a bunch of assholes.” 

“Not all of them are assholes!”

At the combined stare of an incredulous Jooheon and an unimpressed Hyungwon, Minhyuk quickly retracts his previous statement. "Okay, they're all assholes... but I've also got intel that Gunhee is going to the party as well with some of his friends.” Minhyuk smirks as he watches Jooheon, whose ears are now turning red.

“Why do I care?” Jooheon replies with faked nonchalance. Changkyun notes the reaction and draws his own conclusions, though he doesn’t say anything as they all laugh at Jooheon’s reddening complexion.

As Minhyuk and Kihyun continue ribbing on their younger friend, Hyungwon exchanges looks with Hyunwoo and Changkyun. “I guess we’re going, then,” he speaks out, though looking somewhat unhappy at his own decision. 

“Don’t sound so enthusiastic, you might hurt yourself,” a voice interrupts. 

They turn to look at the doorway, where Hoseok is folding close a wet umbrella. He greets everybody while he puts away his jacket and hangs it on a hook near the entrance, taking off his wet shoes and grimacing at his drenched white socks. Socks squelching, he walks towards them and in a sudden whim, lifts up his wet-sock clad foot to place it in the center of Minhyuk’s unsuspecting back. Minhyuk grimaces in disgust and jumps up, practically yowling as he turns around to tackle Hoseok to the floor, both of them rolling around until Minhyuk gains the upper hand and pins Hoseok to the floor. Using Hoseok’s own wet socks (courtesy of a helpful Jooheon), he proceeds to wring the socks of their gathered moisture as the water drips on top of a groaning and regretful Hoseok. 

When Hoseok is finally free of a vengeful Minhyuk, he stands up slowly and ignores the laughter of their friends as he stumbles towards an empty seat next to Hyungwon. Changkyun briefly meets his eyes while he watches the other in curiosity, quickly averting his gaze in embarrassment after being caught. 

The conversation starts up again soon after, and leaning into Kihyun’s warmth, Changkyun tries his best to keep up while Minhyuk and Hoseok lead the conversation and they start talking about an incident that happened at a party last year. The only thing that Changkyun ends up taking from the conversation is that he should avoid drinking from red solo cups if he hadn’t poured the drink himself.

Drowsing off slightly, he’s jolted back to the present when Kihyun asks him if he’s hungry, having leaned in closer to talk so that Changkyun can hear him through the loud discussion going on around them. Changkyun nods in response and yawns, covering his mouth.

“We should make dinner,” Kihyun announces loudly, cutting through the discussion. 

Hoseok and Minhyuk look back at him and then agree shortly. Hyunwoo gets up and stretches, grabbing a cookie and munching on it while he hums. “Dinner sounds good, I think Hyungwon’s stomach has been growling for the past thirty minutes.”

Hyungwon shrugs at Kihyun’s accessing look and pats at his stomach. “I’m always hungry, you should know this by now.” 

With an exasperated but fond look at his boyfriend, Kihyun reluctantly gets up from the sofa, cradling the puppy safely in his arms and leaning down to return the puppy to Jooheon, who coos as soon as Princess is in his lap, licking at his chin.

Kihyun and Minhyuk head to the kitchen to start preparing dinner and Hyunwoo trails after them, asking if they need help chopping ingredients. 

“Appa, be careful! Please don’t cut yourself again!” Jooheon yells out to Hyunwoo’s retreating back. He gets flipped off for his troubles and both Changkyun and Hoseok laugh at Jooheon’s furtive grumbling underneath his breath. 

Hyungwon pulls on Jooheon’s hair as he passes by and the younger whines in response but doesn’t retaliate, just clutches Princess to his chest and complains about being mistreated.

Now near the door, Hyungwon reaches for his messenger bag hanging from another hook next to Hoseok’s jacket and returns to the table in front of the sofas, carefully pulling out his laptop and setting it up on the table as well as all of his notes. He sits there and frowns at the open word document, sighing loudly and drawing Changkyun’s attention from the bright anime that is still playing on the TV screen. Changkyun debates offering his help again but ultimately refrains from doing so; Hyungwon already knows that he can ask for help anytime he needs it.

With nothing to do, Changkyun returns to watching the anime playing, an older series that he’s already watched before but that’s entertaining enough that he doesn’t mind watching it again. The living room is quiet at the moment but the sounds of footsteps, rustling items and the conversation going on between the kitchen’s occupants drifts back to the living room.

This whole situation feels a little awkward to Changkyun; with Hyungwon, Kihyun and Minhyuk being otherwise occupied, he can’t make himself start a conversation with Hoseok or Jooheon—not that he necessarily wants to because he has no idea what to say—but he feels obligated to. Tucking in his legs close to his chest, he hugs a pillow while he pretends to be absorbed in the anime. 

Eventually, Princess gets tired of Jooheon’s hold on her and she whines to be let go, probably because of the smell of cooking food that starts to waft down the hallway to the living room. Setting her down reluctantly, Jooheon sighs and gets up, sitting down on the same sofa as Changkyun and reaching towards the side table where he grabs at a sleek laptop and places it on his lap. A few minutes later, he plugs in a pair of earbuds and starts listening to his music, bobbing his head up and down in time to the tune and mumbling to himself every few minutes.

Changkyun can faintly hear the music coming from the earbuds and he leans in closer as he tries to make out the familiar track, trying to place the song or the artist. Jooheon turns around and catches him with his head tilted as he discreetly tries to look at the laptop and find out the information before he goes insane with curiosity. He laughs at Changkyun’s deer-in-the-headlights expression and takes out one earbud and offers it to Changkyun, who tentatively takes it with a sheepish grin. Jooheon scoots closer to make the distance between the earbuds less strenuous so that the cord doesn’t stretch across the couch awkwardly and then returns to working on his laptop. 

“Thanks, hyung,” Changkyun mumbles. It doesn’t take him long to recognize the song, an older hip-hop track that’s less known by mainstream media but one that he had discovered on accident while clicking around on random music videos. Changkyun tries to return to the anime as he doesn’t want to appear like a creep while watching over Jooheon’s activities on the laptop, but he can’t help himself from noticing that the other appears to be writing lyrics. Half the screen was taken up by a program that appeared to be for making music while the other half alternated between a word document with lyrics and another tab with a youtube playlist of music videos.

Changkyun can’t help but get absorbed in watching Jooheon as he works, and the other doesn’t seem to mind or maybe he doesn’t notice because he doesn’t say anything. After a couple of songs, most of them hip hop with a pop song or ballad thrown in for the hell of it, he stops the music video playing on the youtube tab and fiddles around with the music program on the other half of the screen before he plays the song that he’s created. It seems that only half of the song is completed because the last half is missing rap parts or any accompanying vocals, but Changkyun is thoroughly impressed by Jooheon’s rap and his charismatic rough voice. 

Changkyun can’t help himself, he leans in and grins. “Wow, hyung, that was really good! I really like the second verse of your rap—I think it goes really well with the music.”

Jooheon jumps, startled as he looks back at Changkyun, mirroring his earlier expression of deer-in-the-headlights. “Fuck, I forgot you were listening to my music,” Jooheon sputters, clutching at his heart as he scrunches his eyes shut and hisses out breaths, trying to calm his apparently racing heartbeat.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Changkyun quickly apologizes, taking out the earbud and placing it next to Jooheon’s leg.

Across the room, Hoseok laughs at having witnessed the interaction. “You’re such a scaredy cat, Jooheon-ah. You practically jumped in the air just now, what the hell.” He starts laughing again and doesn’t stop until Hyungwon leans back and lands a solid smack on his stomach. 

“You sound like a dying hyena. Shut up, hyung,” Hyungwon groans out, ruffling at his tousled hair and trying to focus on his essay. 

Jooheon ignores the bickering of the older two with the ease of practice and and turns to look at Changkyun, now trying to subtly scoot away from Jooheon in embarrassment. Jooheon feels bad at scaring off the younger man. “Sorry maknae, it’s my fault. Anyway … do you really mean it? You like the song?”

Changkyun nods his head in agreement, feeling relieved that the other isn’t mad at him. Half an hour later, Jooheon and Changkyun are huddled together on the sofa, sharing the same pair of earbuds as earlier while they discuss the changes of the last planned verse for the song. And hell, Changkyun doesn’t know any musical terminology but Jooheon doesn’t seem to care, seemingly pleased at Changkyun’s love for rap and his opinions on the music. 

When Minhyuk yells that dinner is done, that’s what finally prompts them to stop working on Jooheon’s track and they get up and join the others in the kitchen with Hoseok and Hyungwon following behind them. They all sit down on the cramped dinner table amidst chatter and the chaos of a spilled drink which is quickly cleaned up between all of them. 

“Thank you for the food,” Changkyun mumbles when there’s a lull in conversation. He hasn’t had a home cooked meal in…well, a long while. It makes him remember the elaborate dinners his mom used to make back at home and he can’t help but feel homesick at the sight of the large spread of different dishes spread out in front of them. Everything tastes amazing. 

Sitting next to him, Kihyun leans over and kisses him on the cheek. “Hyung loves you Changkyun-ah, you’re so polite.” 

Changkyun feels himself blush and he tries to ignore everyone’s laughter, grabbing a spoonful of food and stuffing his mouth with it so he doesn’t have to say anything in return.

“Now if only I could teach Hyungwon some manners, I’d be the happiest person in the world,” Kihyun continues on, sneering at Hyungwon from across the table.

Hyungwon shrugs uncaringly. “Chivalry is dead,” he declares and reaches over to steal Hoseok’s glass of soda, chugging down half the glass in one go, much to Hoseok’s amusement and Kihyun’s vexation.

After their dinner is finished, they all retreat back to the living room except for a groaning Hoseok as it’s his turn to load the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen. No one is sympathetic to his plight, or at least it seems that way as Changkyun hovers between the kitchen doorway and the hallway, watching as everyone walks away chattering all the way to the living room. Biting at the inside of his cheek, he finally decides to step into the kitchen again where Hoseok is starting to organize the leftover food into tupperwares to be put away in the fridge. Hoseok looks up from his task as Changkyun reaches for the plates on the table and starts to stack them together. 

“Ah, you don’t have to help me,” Hoseok says with a faint tone of surprise. “Don’t worry about it, you’re a guest.”

“I—I don’t mind helping,” Changkyun stutters out, all of a sudden nervous as the silver-blond inspects him, sharp black eyes studying his face closely. He feels inexplicably hot and tries not to fidget but he can’t help himself from gripping the dishes in his hands with considerable more force than was needed. 

“Suit yourself,” Hoseok smirks, lips threatening to pull into a smile at Changkyun’s obvious nervousness. He turns back around and continues his task. Behind his back, Changkyun exhales quietly in relief and continues with stacking the dishes together. Once the dishwasher is loaded, Hoseok fills it with dishwasher liquid and starts the machine, quietly pointing out to Changkyun where the liquid is usually stored underneath the sink. After that, Hoseok hands him a soapy dish towel and he takes one for himself as they start to wipe down the counters and the dinner table. They don’t talk much during the whole process, and Changkyun doesn’t mind, too busy trying to finish cleaning up the kitchen so that he can escape to the living room. He had severely underestimated the pull of attraction he felt towards the older man and he regrets finding this out at this exact moment in time. What unfortunate timing, if not predictable as far as his luck went. 

Changkyun’s relieved when they’re finished with cleaning up and he eagerly walks back to the living room while Hoseok excuses himself to go take a shower. The living room is somewhat in chaos when he returns; Minhyuk, Hyungwon and Jooheon fight about which movie to watch, all three speaking over each other as they bicker. 

Changkyun edges away from the loud yelling and sits down on the sofa farthest away from the sudden brawl that erupts between the blond and the brunet. Giving up at the threat of physical exertion, Hyungwon kicks at Minhyuk’s thigh lightly as he passes by and practically throws himself at Changkyun, getting comfortable while Kihyun laughs in the background and spurs on Minhyuk as he sits on Jooheon’s back and crows in victory. Hyunwoo looks on with resignation, as if he’s already accepted his fate in life while Jooheon calls for his help repeatedly in increasingly loud and indignant yowls.

“Appa! Help me!”

“I’m not your father, Jooheon-ah.” Hyunwoo responds with a loud sigh, though he can’t mask the underlying tone of amusement as he watches Jooheon curse.

“How come Minhyuk hyung’s allowed to call you daddy, then? That’s not fair!”

Minhyuk’s mouth hangs open in surprise and his grip goes slack, giving Jooheon just enough time to slip out from under him. Quickly regaining his composure, Minhyuk tackles Jooheon to the floor again in a flurry of flailing limbs. 

“How did you know about that, you little shit!” Minhyuk demands, pulling Jooheon into a slack chokehold while the younger male tries to pull away again. 

“The walls are only so thick, hyung,” Jooheon admits with a deep grimace.

Changkyun muffles his laughter against Hyungwon’s shoulder, feeling his stomach start hurting from the force of his laughter and Hyunwoo gets up and separates the two by picking them up by the back of their shirts. Eventually, everybody settles in to watch a movie that Kihyun picks and Jooheon and Minhyuk reconcile from their earlier play fight as they cuddle up close on the couch. Later, Hoseok wanders in half-way through the movie and dares to ask what he missed, growling as popcorn is thrown at his face.

Changkyun drifts off before the movie ends and he doesn’t really remember much afterwards, just a mumbled conversation between him and Hyungwon whether it was alright if they slept over and Changkyun’s mumbled response that might have been an okay, or a yes or a mix of the two because he’s too tired to speak coherently. 

In the middle of the night, Changkyun wakes up on a strange bed with soft blonde hair tickling his chin. It takes him longer than it should to comprehend the fact that Minhyuk is clinging onto him tightly in sleep, leg wrapped around his waist and head resting against his shoulder. Blinking blearily at the soft fairy lights that illuminate the room and the glow of a hundred stars stuck on the ceiling, he sighs and turns his head to rest against Minhyuk’s crown. He falls back asleep quickly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's your favorite scene/line? Let me know in the comments :)


	3. Chapter 3

Friday evening after a relatively normal week finds Changkyun wandering around the mall with Hyungwon and Minhyuk. Everybody else had blown off Minhyuk’s invite to go shopping, Changkyun reluctantly accepting but not without whispered warnings from his shifty eyed brunet friend that Minhyuk and Hyungwon were mild shopaholics and the event would be anything but pleasant. According to Jooheon anyway; Hoseok, Kihyun, and Hyunwoo had just told him to have fun with slightly mischievous smiles and he was definitely more nervous about their reactions than the brunet’s. 

After three hours at the mall, Changkyun understands exactly why he’s been warned off. He’s tired from the sheer amount of walking and browsing that they’ve done, lugging around a handful of plastic shopping bags while he secretly keeps looking at the food court with longing desire every time they pass by it. 

The only reason that he doesn’t complain is because he’s asked Hyungwon and Minhyuk to help him find an outfit for Saturday’s party, with great reluctance on his part. He’s dreading the party, but part of his reluctance to go might be because he doesn’t know how to dress himself well. At least by having his friends pick his clothes, he hopes that he’ll end up looking semi-decent. 

Half an hour later and still trudging after his friends while they wander around looking for a particular shoe store, he can’t help the loud yelp that escapes his treacherous mouth as a cramp in his foot makes him double over in pain. Hyungwon startles at the sound and quickly grabs the shopping bags from him while Minhyuk puts an arm around him, leading him over to a bench nearby while Changkyun waves off their worried concern.

“It’s just a stupid cramp,” Changkyun mutters low under his breath, taking off his shoe and pressing harshly at the arch of his right foot uselessly. He should probably be embarrassed because he’s wearing bright green socks with a festive holiday pattern months after the holidays have ended but he can’t bring himself to care. Hyungwon kneels in front of him and reaches for his foot, taking off his sock as he kneads at the muscle in the arch of his foot in hard downward strokes. Changkyun would protest the action but he can’t think rationally when the muscles in his foot keep cramping together into a tight ball of stinging pain and he hisses as the pain slowly starts to abate.

“Does that feel better?” Hyungwon asks, looking up at Changkyun from where he crouches on the floor right in front of him. Relieved as the pain starts to go away, Changkyun nods his head and sighs, relaxing against the bench. Minhyuk ruffles his hair as he sits next to him, giving any gawking bystanders a strangely intimidating look that makes them avert their eyes from the strange scene. 

Once the cramp is completely gone, Changkyun puts on his sock and shoe again and listens to Hyungwon gently chiding him for not telling them that he was tired or in pain sooner while Minhyuk grins at the rare sight of seeing Hyungwon admonishing someone. Usually, the task fell to Kihyun or surprisingly, to Hoseok who could be strict when it came to the safety of his friends. 

“I’m hungry, can we go eat?” Changkyun eventually asks them with a pleading gaze and the chiding abruptly stops. A few minutes later, he’s sitting down at the food court and waiting at an empty table while Minhyuk and Hyungwon order food for them from one of the many food stalls. They come back with burgers and fries and a soda for Changkyun while they both opted to get bubble tea instead. Although Changkyun distinctly remembers hating the taste when he was younger, he can’t help but steal a sip from Minhyuk and he quickly discovers that he still dislikes the beverage, spitting out a tapioca pearl into a napkin while his friends laugh at the sour face his makes. Ignoring the laughter, Changkyun returns to his meal and practically inhales the food, enjoying the savory taste of the greasy burger and the crispy french fries dipped in ketchup. 

“Wow, it’s like your manners completely disappear when you’re hungry as hell,” Hyungwon teases him, and Changkyun abruptly looks up and watches Minhyuk laugh as he reaches forward with a napkin to wipe a ketchup stain off his cheek. 

“I’m not always polite,” Changkyun grouches halfheartedly, grabbing another napkin and wiping his mouth clean. 

“Yes you are,” Hyungwon fires back quickly, enjoying the pouting look on the younger’s face. “I saw you yesterday, you apologized to that idiot that ran into you even though it wasn’t your fault.”

Changkyun shrugs in response and sips at the dredges of soda left in his cup. “That wasn’t politeness, that was self-preservation. Did you see him? Fucker was six feet tall.”

Hyungwon smirks at the confession and balls up a napkin to throw at Changkyun’s face. “Cunning maknae.”

“Nah, Changkyunnie’s not cunning,” Minhyuk pipes in, assessing their youngest friend from across the table with a slight smirk, “he isn’t nearly as manipulative or deceitful enough to be considered that. Hmm, disingenuous maybe.”

“That’s not much better,” Changkyun grouches back with an offended glare. Unsurprisingly, Hyungwon and Minhyuk remain unaffected by his anger but that’s probably because he’s not really angry after all. 

Once they’ve finished eating, they return to shopping though somewhat reluctantly in Changkyun’s case. The only good thing about having the other two choosing his clothing is the fact that he can sit and watch as they discuss among themselves about the style of shirt and the type of cut for the pair of jeans he needs. He doesn’t even have to change as they already know his size and he’s infinitely grateful for that small mercy. 

Bored out of his mind, Changkyun curses out his other friends on the sns group chat and kindly tells them where they can shove it. Jooheon cheerfully asks for help with said task while Hyunwoo and Kihyun only send back laughing emojis. Hoseok, difficult as ever, sends back a cheeky message followed by a heart emoji that sends his heart beating into overdrive for all of a few seconds until he makes himself calm down. He knows Hoseok is just joking around or he might even be drunk, for all he knows. Everybody says dumb shit when they’re drunk. He summarily dismisses his thoughts of the unlikely chance that Hoseok reciprocates his hopeless crush and focuses back on his phone as he rereads Hoseok’s last messages. 

**Hoseok** : hope you’re having fun, maknae. miss you!

 **Hoseok** : <3

I mean, seriously, who sends out hearts to somebody they barely know? Changkyun glares at his phone but can’t help the fact that his heart is racing. Feet tapping, Changkyun forces himself to respond with the question that’s currently plaguing him. 

**Changkyun** : How drunk are you right now?

Only a minute later, he gets his response.

 **Hoseok** : very

Changkyun stuffs his phone back in his pocket and sulks as his suspicions are confirmed.

When he finally gets home with a single sturdy shopping bag laden with folded clothes, he doesn’t even have the strength or the patience to inspect everything. He collapses on his bed and drags over his laptop to watch old netflix reruns and lays in bed for the rest of the night.

* * *

Saturday evening after his shower finds Changkyun looking at himself in the mirror. The black jeans he’s wearing are practically skin tight and they hug his waist nicely. The sweatshirt he’s wearing is a soft cream color that had looked quite plain when he first saw it but that looks very flattering on his figure when he tugs it on. It’s slightly loose but tight enough to show off his small frame while the sleeves swallow his hands. He pulls up the sleeves a couple of times but they keep sliding down and he eventually gives up on the fruitless task with a small groan of annoyance.

When he exits the bathroom, he’s momentarily amused at the sight of Hyungwon and Kihyun. They’re both busy going through his manga collection on the bookshelf and Hyungwon is shoving his boyfriend away while he clutches a book to his chest, furtively trying to keep it away from Kihyun. 

“You can borrow whatever you want,” Changkyun offers and they both turn to look at him. Hyungwon instantly grins as he pushes Kihyun away one more time and Kihyun growls as he lands on the floor. Ignoring his boyfriend halfheartedly cursing him out, Hyungwon walks forward to inspect Changkyun, silently ordering him to turn around with a lazy spin of his slender index finger. 

After a small but intense staring contest, Changkyun relents with a put-out sigh and turns around like he’s instructed to. When Kihyun wolf-whistles, Changkyun can’t help but smile and Hyungwon takes advantage of his distraction to reach forward and pinch his cheek hard. “You look great, brat,” he compliments with a teasing grin. “Maybe you’ll catch somebody’s attention tonight.”

“As if,” Changkyun snorts, bending down and looking underneath his bed where his shoes inexplicably end up every time. Rooting around underneath the bed, Changkyun ends up missing the assessing glance that Kihyun and Hyungwon share at his self-depreciating comment.

Changkyun only has one nice pair of chucks and that’s about as fancy as his shoe collection goes. Once he’s found his shoes and tugged them on, they’re all ready to go. They take Kihyun’s car and start their drive to an apartment complex solely for students only a couple of blocks away from their friends’ place. The parking lot is already full of cars when they arrive that Kihyun doesn’t even bother looking for a spot, instead he parks a couple of streets away from the building. Once they get out of the car, Changkyun straightens out his clothes nervously as he walks behind his friends.

“Our idiot friends should be around here somewhere,” Kihyun says as they start to get closer to the entrance of the apartment complex. Hyungwon pulls out his cell phone from his back pocket and quickly calls one of them and a minute later, the doors leading to the entrance of the building open and Jooheon beckons them inside where the rest of the group is waiting for them in the lobby. An excited Minhyuk hugs Changkyun in greeting while the rest of their friends rag on Kihyun about his apparently atrocious dancing. Kihyun, grumpy and indignant as ever, tells them all to shut the fuck up while they all snicker at his attitude. 

Being with his ragtag group of friends is familiar by now, but Changkyun’s not used to going to parties where he has to interact with so many other people so he can’t but be nervous as they make their way to the elevator. The elevator is barely big enough to fit them all inside and Changkyun ends up facing Hoseok somehow as they all cram themselves together to fit in all at once. Hoseok’s already taller than him but to add insult to injury, tonight he’s wearing a pair of clunky black boots that add a few more inches to his height. Changkyun internally grouches at the unfairness of it all while he briefly takes in the other’s appearance and admires Hoseok’s toned and muscular frame. Trying not to drool at the sight, he looks up only to meet Hoseok’s sharp stare. Changkyun inwardly panics and instantly looks away to fix his stare at the reflective silver wall of the elevator, ignoring Hoseok’s rough laugh.

“Nervous, Changkyun-ah?” Hoseok asks, the very corner of his lips curving up in the barest hint of a smirk.

“No,” Changkyun mumbles out of pure stubbornness and he’s extremely grateful when the elevator dings and they’re all able to trudge out. The music is already loud and they’re not even inside the apartment; the heavy bass of the song sending deep vibrations through the floor.

“Just take it easy on the drinks and you’ll be fine,” Hoseok reassures the maknae before he reaches forward to knock on the door. Kihyun grumbles in the back about the maknae being too young to drink and Changkyun laughs at Kihyun’s unnecessary mothering. 

A few minutes later, one of Mark’s friends opens the door, smiling at them widely in greeting. 

“Ah, you guys are finally here! Come in, come in. Oh yeah, if you see Jinyoung around, tell him that Mark is looking for him,” he asks politely as he invites them in, eyes lighting up when he sees Minhyuk. “Minhyukkie!”

“Hi, Bam Bam,” Minhyuk greets, reaching forward to hug the other momentarily. 

While the two friends catch up, the rest of them enter the large living room that’s currently a madhouse. The lights are off and the only illumination is provided by several black lights as well as a couple of flashing strobe lights mounted in the corners of the large room. Inexplicably, there’s white smoke pouring out of an adjacent room and white roiling clouds cover the entire floor of the room. Changkyun looks around wide-eyed, wondering what the hell is going on and why there’s an ice sculpture of a dragon near the snack table.

“Have fun,” Hoseok leans in close and whispers, ruffling Changkyun’s hair into a messy disarray before he walks away from their group of friends. Changkyun looks after the silver-blond in slight bewilderment, watching as Hoseok parts through the thick crowd with ease. After a few minutes, Hoseok stops in front of a circle of people as if he belongs there, instantly engaging in conversation with the small cluster of strangers that Changkyun doesn’t recognize.

Changkyun keeps watching him for a few minutes before he turns back around and catches Kihyun’s frowning expression. “What’s wrong, hyung?” Changkyun asks, leaning in so that the older male can hear him. The music is nearly deafening inside the room. 

“Ah, nothing, Changkyun-ah,” Kihyun answers with a reassuring smile. “Stick close, okay?”

Changkyun gets the feeling that Kihyun’s lying to him but he doesn’t have much time to think about it as Hyunwoo and Minhyuk reappear in front of them, holding several red cups that they hand out to everyone, though Hyungwon frowns at his bottle of water. He’s the designated driver, having lost in rock-paper-scissors and although Changkyun had offered to take his place, Hyungwon had refused. Hyunwoo is also their second designated driver, necessary because they were driving two separate cars although he had volunteered himself so that everybody else could enjoy themselves. 

“Let’s have fun,” Jooheon pipes up beside him, and clinks his plastic cup against Changkyun’s, who grins at the sentiment. Jooheon already looks a little glassy-eyed and Changkyun suspects that the brunet has already pre-gamed before he arrived at the party.

“Well, we’re going to dance,” Minhyuk declares with a bright grin, clutching Hyunwoo’s hand tight and dragging him to the center of the room where the makeshift dance floor is located. Under the black lights, Minhyuk’s blond hair practically glows and his pale face looks ethereal, drawing attention from admirers as he leans against Hyunwoo, arms reaching up to encircle the raven’s neck in a close embrace. 

Changkyun watches them briefly before they’re swallowed up by the surrounding crowd and he can’t help but to frown in distaste as he unwillingly remembers the scene from several weeks ago at the nightclub he’d visited on a whim. He has no desire to dance, he doesn’t want a repeat occurrence as unlikely as it was to happen.

Chugging down the beer in his cup, he lets himself be pulled along by Hyungwon while Kihyun leads their way into another room. There’s no dancing in the second room, only people mingling in groups as they chatter away loudly to be heard through the music. There’s also a large keg where an obnoxious crowd congregates; the football team, if Changkyun has to guess, judging by the combined bulk of their muscles.

With a slight grimace as he passes by the obnoxious football team, Kihyun leads them further into the large apartment until they finally stop in a room with a wide assortment of cozy beanbag chairs and plush sofas. Kihyun’s apparently found who he was looking for, a cheery bunch of half-drunk friends from his own vocal classes. After Kihyun greets his friends, Hyungwon waves at them from behind, dragging Changkyun closer until he’s standing right in the middle between Kihyun and Hyungwon. After a moment of hesitation, Kihyun introduces Changkyun while watching him out of the corner of his eyes carefully.

“Hi,” Changkyun murmurs, waving his hand in a jerky motion while he tries not to wither into himself at the attention he’s receiving from the large group of people. 

“How cute! That was totally a jazz hand wave. We should start doing that, that’s so cool,” a cheery brunet gushes, waving back in double jazz hands at an embarrassed Changkyun, who subtly tries to retreat backwards to hide behind Hyungwon. 

“Don’t mind Jisoo, he’s a dork,” Hyungwon reassures Changkyun with a deadpan expression on his face. Everyone laughs at the comment while Changkyun chugs at his drink, hoping that if he gets drunk enough, he’ll loosen up. Thankfully, Kihyun takes over the conversation after that and Changkyun listens to the talk of vocal classes and the complaints against instructors, which turns to complaints against each other and tales of extreme idiocy recounted with further embellishments to make the stories funnier. 

Changkyun doesn’t know enough about the other people to differentiate them and it makes it kind of hard to follow their chatter, but he tries to be a good listener nonetheless, laughing at appropriate moments and drinking the second and third cup of beer that he’s provided, courtesy of Kihyun’s friends.

In the end, Changkyun ends up warming up to the group of people and his anxiety lessens as he realizes that he doesn’t have to speak; everyone else is loud enough that it doesn’t matter if he’s quiet. It also helps that Hyungwon is equally as quiet, listening to the laughter and jokes and smiling without adding to the conversation. 

Eventually, Kihyun and Hyungwon wave goodbye to Kihyun’s vocal class friends and they make their way back to the first room, where they’re instantly engulfed into hugs from the host himself, Mark. If Changkyun is surprised that he was hugged as well, he doesn’t show it, having a nice enough buzz that he feels more relaxed and his stomach isn’t tied into knots like it was when they first arrived. 

After exchanging greetings as well as a short conversation with Mark, they part ways and through chance, they meet up again with Minhyuk and Hyunwoo. Minhyuk fans himself and drinks from his red cup, moaning about his tired feet while Hyunwoo looks across the room stoically, seemingly keeping an eye on Jooheon who was currently engaged in a drinking game with some of his friends.

“He’s trying too hard to impress Gunhee, he’s going to end up throwing up and embarrassing himself at this rate,” Hyungwon observes besides the oldest. “Should I go get him?”

“Not yet. I’ll keep watching him just in case,” Hyunwoo responds calmly, drinking at his own bottle of water and wiping away the sweat at his brow.

Changkyun leans into Hyungwon and stands on his tiptoes, trying to get a closer look at Jooheon over the large crowd, but he stumbles a bit and Hyungwon wraps an arm around his shoulders to steady him. 

“You drunk, Changkyun-ah?” Kihyun asks, smiling a bit at seeing Hyungwon’s over-protectiveness.

“Just buzzed, hyung,” Changkyun truthfully admits and then chugs down the rest of his drink for the hell of it. 

They stand there for a while and talk, though Minhyuk can’t seem to stand still because he ends up asking Changkyun to dance after they’ve all enjoyed a shot of liquor, minus Hyungwon and Hyunwoo. 

“I don’t dance,” Changkyun informs the blond, hoping that the matter will be dropped. He really should’ve known better by now. 

Minhyuk pouts in a sulky manner and wraps his arms around Changkyun. “Come on, Changkyunnie, I want to dance with you,” Minhyuk pleads while he places small kisses on Changkyun’s cheek, nuzzling into him. Changkyun eventually relents in the face of Minhyuk’s loud whining, thoroughly aware that the blond is drunk by now. He allows himself to be dragged to the dance floor and wraps his arms around Minhyuk’s neck while Minhyuk wraps his arms around his waist. They end up slow dancing, which Changkyun hadn’t expected to be honest, but he definitely doesn’t mind. It’s a little weird, considering that a hardcore rap song is playing but nobody seems to blink twice at them and Changkyun enjoys the unconventional dance with his friend, who keeps mumbling about how much he loves tacos and snowy days and Hyunwoo. 

Changkyun laughs at the unintentional cuteness of the blond, swaying from side to side until he feels a soft hand on his back. Changkyun tenses up but quickly relaxes once he realizes that it’s Hyungwon and Kihyun, Kihyun cutting in until he’s taken Minhyuk’s place, who pairs off with Hyungwon. Changkyun dances with Kihyun for a while, jumping up and down while holding hands and singing along to the song playing, laughing as Kihyun attempts to show off a few dance moves to the crowd until he’s booed off and pushed back into Changkyun’s arms.

Kihyun appears to be a totally opposite drunk to the rambling and emotional Minhyuk; he’s loud and playful and honestly a complete handful but Changkyun doesn’t mind as he allows himself to get lost in the sensation of the pulsing music. Halfway through a song, Changkyun realizes that he’s lost his friend and he spins around in a circle, trying to find Kihyun. 

Instead, he finds Hoseok. The silver-blond has his arms wrapped tightly against the waist of a pretty redhead, grinding against the shorter male. With the lights flashing overhead, they lean in closer as if in sync and suddenly locks lips in a rough and bruising kiss.

Heart sinking, Changkyun abruptly whirls around and pushes through the crowd, leaving the room and wandering around the apartment in a daze with his heartbeat loudly thrumming in his ears. Eventually, he finds his way to an empty terrace and he’s finally able to breathe properly, taking in lungfuls of cold air that burn his oxygen deprived lungs. He hadn’t realized that he’d been holding his breath. 

Changkyun leans against the wall and stares out at the night sky, trying to figure out why he’s so affected by why he witnessed. He’s no closer to an answer half-an-hour later, his mind keeps running in circles around the silver-blond subject of his thoughts, and belatedly, Changkyun realizes that his scattered state of mind has something to do with all of the alcohol that he’s consumed tonight.

It’s not nearly enough, he decides. Ducking back inside, Changkyun wanders around until he ends up in the kitchen, quite by accident. He can’t help but get lost, the apartment is huge. There’s a game of beer pong going on in the kitchen table though the amount of spectators is small. Changkyun’s eyes catch sight of the bar that’s filled with bottles of alcohol of all types and he instantly pours himself a shot of whatever the hell his hands touch first. It stings like hell going down, and Changkyun almost chokes at the heavy burning sensation but he soldiers on and downs the shot. He thinks it’s tequila, but he can’t tell because the effects hit him hard and fast. He pours clear liquor in an empty red solo cup and stumbles out of the kitchen, trying to find his way back to the same terrace as earlier. He’s surprisingly successful, and he finds his way there after being cursed out for stepping on somebody’s foot, which he hardly notices in the dazed state he’s in. 

Walking back outside into the cold air, Changkyun closes his eyes and exhales deeply as he leans his back against the wall, fighting back a wave of disorientation. An unspecified amount of time later, he hears the sound of footsteps. When he opens his eyes, he’s confronted by Hoseok and his distinctly unamused expression, sharp black eyes inspecting him from head to toe. Changkyun smiles languidly at the silver-blond and raises his cup to drink the rest of the clear liquid. Hoseok grabs onto his wrist none-too-gently and pulls the cup away from him with his other hand, raising it up to smell the contents inside. Changkyun’s lips quirk and he laughs at the weird action. 

“You’re so fucking wasted right now,” Hoseok hisses with an irritated frown, recognizing the strong scent in the cup for what it is. 

“Depends on your definition of wasted,” Changkyun retorts with a lazy grin, laughing at Hoseok’s heated glare. Getting rid of the contents of the drink by throwing the whole cup out of the terrace, Hoseok reaches forward and wraps an around his waist and starts leading him out of the cold air and into the apartment once again. Changkyun follows placidly and unquestionably, head starting to ache as the music assaults his ears again. He trips over nothing and almost falls, and the next thing he knows, there’s a hand under his knees and another hand supporting the small of his back as he’s lifted up and carried in Hoseok’s arms bridal-style. The motion of swaying back and forth is making him feel nauseous and Changkyun groans against the solid chest he’s resting against. He feels sick by the time that he’s set down, this time on the floor. Opening his eyes, he looks down at the toilet bowl set in front of him and leans his head forward to rest his head against it before he’s quickly stopped by a solid hand on his chest keeping him upright.

“Drink this, you’ll feel better in the morning,” Hoseok instructs, placing a bottle in his hands. Changkyun thinks about it for a few seconds and then nods in agreement. He shakily raises the bottle to his lips, moaning slightly at the taste of clear water that fills his mouth. He takes a couple of sips and attempts to set the drink down, but Hoseok takes it from him and sets it to his lips, gently coercing him into drinking again and again until the whole bottle is empty. Changkyun’s stomach is uncomfortably full at this point, and he feels an unpleasant roiling in his stomach. When he feels saliva pooling on his tongue, he takes the sign for what it is and leans over the toilet bowl and starts vomiting. Changkyun doesn’t remember much after that apart from the feeling of somebody rubbing small circles into his back and wiping his face with a cold towel. 

He blacks out at an uncertain point of time and the next thing he knows, he’s being carried again. Opening his eyes, Changkyun blearily makes out flashing strobe lights and feels the thump of heavy music as it settles in his bones; they’re in the middle of a crowd and Hoseok’s trying to cut through the dance floor to get to the exit sooner, but Changkyun mistakes his intention and whines loudly, reaching up to clutch at Hoseok’s shirt and wrinkling it in the process. 

“Don’t want to dance,” Changkyun mumbles angrily, pulling on Hoseok’s shirt with a surprisingly strong grip. Hoseok looks down and snorts at the weak glare he’s receiving from the recalcitrant ash-haired maknae. 

“We’re not going to dance, you little idiot.”

Changkyun jerks at the insult, feeling a strange sense of familiarity that he can’t shake off. “Not an idiot,” he retorts mulishly. In the next second, his foot catches against something or someone and his mind inexplicably flashes through the incident at the club from last time. Changkyun whines loudly and reaches up to wrap his arms around Hoseok’s neck tightly. “I don’t wanna dance, hyung!” Changkyun pleads, “I don’t wanna be groped again.” There’s an imperceptible tightening in the arms holding him but Changkyun doesn’t notice in his dazed state and Hoseok starts hissing out curses, pushing his way through the crowd by force. Changkyun moans at the rough swaying motion and closes his eyes, unintentionally passing out once again. 

The next time that Changkyun wakes up, he’s surrounded by his friends. His head is resting on Hyungwon’s lap and there’s a hand carding through his hair in a soothing manner. His surroundings look strange; it doesn’t look like his dorm or his friends’ apartment. Although he’s half-awake, nobody seems to notice while they talk amongst themselves. Changkyun closes his eyes and listens, head pounding even in the relatively quiet atmosphere.

“—already threw up once. I gave him some water and a couple of pain tablets but he seems to be very nauseous.”

“I’m just glad he’s alright,” Hyungwon stresses. “If you hadn’t found him…and out in the fucking terrace? He could’ve fallen over!”

“He’s okay, Hyungwon-ah, that’s all that matters,” Hyunwoo calmly interjects. “Let’s get them all home. Minhyuk’s already asleep and Kihyun isn’t looking too hot either.”

“Hey! I look amazing, you fucker,” Kihyun hisses out, words half-slurred.

“Of course you do, babe,” Hyungwon murmurs placidly, reaching for Kihyun’s waist and pulling him in until Kihyun takes the hint and sits beside him. 

Next to Changkyun, Jooheon laughs at Kihyun’s grouchy expression and then groans as he clutches at his stomach, whining as he leans into Hyunwoo. 

A few minutes later, Changkyun feels himself being lifted up and he lethargically wraps his arms around Hyungwon’s neck. Opening his red-rimmed eyes, he breathes in and shivers at the cold of the outside air as they step out of the lobby of the apartment complex. 

After helping Kihyun walk to the car, Hoseok murmurs goodbye to the ragtag group and starts the long walk towards the other end of the parking lot. Leaning against a parked car, a slim figure nestled in an over-sized leather jacket waits for him while taking slow drags from a cigarette and blowing out long puffs of white smoke that curl upwards before disappearing. Through half-slit eyes, Changkyun watches as Hoseok leaves with the pretty redhead that he’d kissed. 

* * *

Changkyun wakes up past noon the next morning, grimacing at the sunlight pouring into the room. He’s tangled up in a dark blue comforter with Hyungwon and Kihyun crowding him to the edge. Hyungwon’s elbow is jabbing him on the side as he takes up a majority of the bed while laying in the center, limbs spread out like a starfish while Kihyun rests his head on Hyungwon’s outstretched arm. 

Getting up and groaning at the pounding headache that makes his vision spin momentarily, Changkyun slowly gets out of bed and walks out, leaving behind his sleeping friends. He makes his way through the long hall slowly, passing Jooheon and Minhyuk’s closed doors and following the sounds coming from the living room. 

Hyunwoo is resting on the sofa, a cup of coffee in one hand while he watches the news. He smiles when he notices Changkyun, standing there and blinking slowly, trying to wake up fully. Minutes later, he’s bundled up in a blanket and sitting next to Hyunwoo who hands him some pain medicine and a cup of water to wash it down. When Hyunwoo attempts to give him the remote control so that Changkyun can change the channel to something more interesting, he declines the offer and settles in to watch the weather segment. It’s peaceful, the volume is set to low and Hyunwoo fixes him a cup of coffee once he catches him looking at his own cup longingly.

“Thanks, hyung,” Changkyun offers gratefully, Hyunwoo reaching out to pat his hair gently in return. Changkyun enjoys the moment of quietness for as long as it lasts, which isn’t much as Jooheon comes stumbling out of his own room and looks at them through sleepy eyes, carrying Princess in his arms.

“Head hurts, Appa,” Jooheon whines low in his throat. Hyunwoo doesn’t correct the title this time, and Changkyun gains a seatmate as Jooheon is bundled up under the blanket next to him, snoozing softly against his shoulder once he’s taken pain meds as well. The chocolate poodle takes off and wanders down the hall and later returns with Minhyuk, who clings to Hyunwoo, complaining about his sore feet as he rests his legs on top of Hyunwoo’s thighs. 

The morning, or that is to say, the afternoon, goes by slowly with Hyungwon and Kihyun finally joining them halfway through their drama marathon. If their clothes look a little more disheveled than usual, Changkyun knows better than to point it out.

When the door to the apartment opens later, Changkyun turns sideways to look at Hoseok as he strides into the living room, taking off his jacket and unlacing his boots, sighing as if tired. He’s wearing the same clothes as yesterday and his hair looks tousled and messy, as if he had run his fingers through it countless times. 

“Morning,” he greets lazily, taking in the sight of his friends gathered around.

“Afternoon,” Jooheon distractedly corrects, absorbed in the television screen and the drama unfolding. 

Hoseok rolls his eyes at the correction but walks forward to sit next to Jooheon and proceeds to smirk at Kihyun who’s sitting on the adjacent sofa. “How’s the hangover, Kihyun-ah?” he teases and laughs at the middle finger he receives.

“Just looking at your ugly mug this early in the morning is making my eyes burn.” Kihyun sneers back.

While they continue their joking interaction, Changkyun notes the hickeys littering Hoseok’s neck and trailing down underneath his shirt. He can’t exactly see where the hickeys end, but he has a pretty good idea and just the thought of Hoseok spending the night with the redhead makes him feel irrationally jealous. Changkyun forces himself to look away and focuses on the TV screen.

Hoseok leaves to take a shower soon after at Hyungwon’s strong suggestion, pointedly staring at the prominent love bites that Hoseok doesn’t seem to realize are there. Jooheon follows Hyungwon’s suggestion as well and heads for the second bathroom, and it takes them about an hour for everyone to take their turn to shower. Changkyun ends up wearing a mish-mash of different clothes from his friends and he’s thankful for the feeling of being clean and washed.

Afterwards and without even needing to discuss it, they unanimously decide to go out to eat and they end up seated at a large booth at the diner Minhyuk’s aunt owns. Between eating their lunch and recounting the events from the party last night, Changkyun is gently chided once by Kihyun and twice by Hyungwon about the disappearing act he had pulled last night. They warn him to be more careful next time and Changkyun promises to always carry around his phone, having left it at home last night in fear of having it stolen. At least they don’t ask him why he disappeared last night because Changkyun wouldn’t be able to answer them without swallowing his dignity and revealing his jealousy and the cause thereof. 

Later, they end up going next door to buy ice cream cones and Changkyun declines, feeling a little sick from having eaten sweet waffles earlier. He sits down on a bench outside the ice cream shop and drinks water, feeling somewhat apprehensive when Hoseok sits next to him with a deceptively blank expression on his face. The faked nonchalance is obviously just an act, instantly destroyed by the way he roughly tousles his hair, an act of his aggravation that Changkyun can easily recognize from the weeks he’s spent watching Hoseok. 

“Do you even remember anything from last night?” Hoseok asks, looking deceptively calm. 

Though Hoseok is being serious, Changkyun can’t help but laugh. “Yes, of course I do. I wasn’t _that_ drunk, hyung.” 

Hoseok doesn’t laugh, and there’s a brief moment of silence before he practically erupts. “You were fucking wasted!” Hoseok hisses with a harsh glare, and Changkyun jerks back at the venomous tone. “Everyone was worried about you when we couldn’t find you right away and when I did manage to find you, you kept passing out! Do you think that’s normal? Don’t get that drunk again, Changkyun. It’s a little shameful, don’t you think?”

Changkyun can’t help the feeling of hurt that makes his chest ache at the same time that anger boils his blood at the casual way that Hoseok insults his behavior from last night. Even if his behavior _had_ been shameful and he’d worried his friends, it was not Hoseok’s place to berate him for it. Despite the fact that Changkyun is harboring a huge crush on the silver-blond, he wouldn’t stand by and let himself be insulted like this. 

“I know I messed up...but getting drunk enough to act like an idiot is my own fucking decision to make, and honestly, I don’t give a damn what you say, bastard.” Without preamble, Changkyun gets up and storms away, finding his way to the bus stop with his fists clenched all the while, fingernails digging into his palms. 

Hoseok’s cold expression melts into a frustrated one as he watches Changkyun leave without looking back. He shuts his eyes tight and curses under his breath, feeling like an idiot.

* * *

Half-way through the week, Hyungwon catches a cold. Although Hyungwon does in fact have his own dorm room, he’s all but moved in with Kihyun at this point, so Changkyun isn’t surprised in the least when he’s informed that Hyungwon is sleeping over in Kihyun’s dorm. Kihyun is in a bit of bind though, because he has a late night shift tonight and he would rather not leave Hyungwon by himself. Changkyun volunteers to watch over his sick friend, happy to be of service. 

He knocks on Kihyun’s door on Wednesday afternoon with a bag full of cold medicine, throat lozenges, and tissues and Kihyun ushers him into the dorm with dark circles under his eyes.

“He’s being such a drama queen,” Kihyun complains and then thanks Changkyun profusely and hugs him before he waves goodbye, rushing out of the dorm. 

Changkyun takes off his shoes and heads for the single room, carrying his bag of provisions. Hyungwon is awake when he enters, watching netflix on a laptop and wearing a medical mask that would hopefully prevent the spread of his sickness. If Kihyun had looked weary, Hyungwon looks even worse. He’s pale and wan, but when Changkyun reaches for his forehead, his temperature feels normal. He’s not running a fever, which is good.

“How are you feeling, hyung?” Changkyun ask, sitting down on the edge of the bed. 

Hyungwon glares at him underneath the fringe of his sweaty hair. “Shitty.”

Changkyun waits for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t. “Sorry, stupid question,” Changkyun admits sheepishly. After Changkyun heats up the bowl of chicken noodle soup that Kihyun had left in the fridge, Hyungwon eats half of it and plays with the rest, stabbing at the leftover vegetables with his spoon over and over.

“Sorry I was mean earlier,” Hyungwon apologizes, watching as Changkyun goes around the room cleaning the mess. The maknae throws away lozenge wrappers and starts picking up dirty laundry that hadn’t made it into the hamper yet. Kihyun was normally a clean freak but taking care of Hyungwon had taken a toll on him, it seemed.

At the apology, Changkyun raises his head and chuckles at Hyungwon’s serious expression. “It’s okay hyung, I don’t expect you to be nice when you’re feeling sick.”

Hyungwon seems dissatisfied by his reply, but Changkyun just continues cleaning until the room is back in spotless order. Afterwards, he takes the bowl of unrecognizable chicken noodle soup and goes back to the kitchen to empty it out, taking the opportunity to wash and dry the small amount of dishes he finds in the sink.

When he returns, he sits next to Hyungwon on the bed and watches a drama with him as they lean back on the soft pillows. He notices that Hyungwon seems to feel uncomfortable though, shifting around constantly while he pulls back the covers and then covers himself again after a few minutes. 

“How about you take a shower, hyung? You’ll feel better afterwards,” Changkyun suggests, watching as the tawny male considers it. A few minutes later, Changkyun follows him to the shower while he watches from behind to make sure the other doesn’t fall; although Hyungwon looks a little unsteady on his feet, he insists on showering alone so Changkyun reluctantly leaves him to it while he quickly returns to the room and changes the sheets and the bed cover, wanting his hyung to be more comfortable. He keeps an ear out for any sounds that may indicate that Hyungwon had an accident in the shower, but everything seems well and the other eventually returns to the room in clean pajamas. They’re the exact same shade of pink as Kihyun’s hair, and Changkyun finds himself extremely fond of Hyungwon at that very second. 

After Hyungwon’s settled under the clean bed covers, Changkyun puts on a medical mask and gets under the covers as well, completely ignoring Hyungwon’s objections of him getting sick.

“I don’t mind getting sick,” Changkyun needles back, and scoots over in bed until he can snuggle with the tawny male. Hyungwon relents after that, enjoying the sensation of the other’s warmth too much to keep objecting.

They don’t talk for a long time, and Changkyun starts to drift to sleep until he feels a hand closing around his own. He opens his tired eyes and sees Hyungwon gazing back at him. 

“I’m really glad that you burned that pizza,” Hyungwon mumbles, blinking slowly. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to talk to you. I always wanted to ask you to hang out or something, but you never paid attention to me in class.”

Changkyun’s half-asleep and he can’t quite muster the energy to do anything else but smile, feeling fuzzy and warm at Hyungwon’s random confession. 

“I’m also glad that I burned that stupid pizza. I’m—I’m glad that I met you, hyung,” Changkyun whispers and Hyungwon smiles back and closes his eyes, falling asleep quickly. Changkyun joins him soon after.

* * *

Hyungwon’s absent from class the next day and Changkyun laments his absence as Hoseok settles down in the seat next to him. Without Hyungwon acting as a buffer, Changkyun can’t help but feel awkward, considering the fact that the last time he’d spoken to Hoseok had been last week when they’d had an argument. 

At least Hoseok had apologized for stepping over his bounds, though only by text message. Changkyun had apologized as well for blowing up on him, but he still felt justified in doing so. By now, the anger has cooled off a considerable amount, leaving behind only embarrassment and the faint traces of hurt that still make his stomach churn unpleasantly. He gets why Hoseok was upset, he truly does, but remembering the venomous tone of his voice and his pissed off expression only makes him upset all over again, that’s why he’s stayed away from the older man for a whole week to cool off the tension between them. 

Changkyun would rather just pretend that nothing happened at all, so he resolutely faces the front of the room and tries to pretend that he’s unaffected by Hoseok’s presence despite the fact that his hands keep shaking. 

His plan is foiled when a disposable cup is placed in front of him, steam rising from the open slit of the lid. Changkyun looks at Hoseok, surprised. 

“Hot chocolate,” Hoseok mumbles. “My treat, for acting like a jerk. I’m sorry, Changkyun, I was really harsh with you and I hope you can forgive me for being a jackass.”

Changkyun breathes in deeply and bites his tongue, trying to decide what to say. “...It’s okay, hyung. Thanks for the hot chocolate.” He sips the drink tentatively and relaxes at the sweet taste, looking to the front of the room again and feeling awkward at the whole situation. He would rather just forget about the whole incident and maybe Hoseok picks up on that, because he stays silent as well and focuses on gathering his notes and pulling out his laptop. The lecture starts soon after and they don’t really have a chance to speak, or at least, Changkyun pretends to be absorbed in the material to avoid speaking with the silver-blond sitting next to him. 

Hoseok was similar to Hyungwon in that he often got distracted during class so Changkyun isn’t surprised in the least when he can feel eyes boring into the side of his head half-way through the lecture, courtesy of a bored Hoseok. With a soft sigh, he pulls out a blank sheet of paper and draws a tic-tac-toe board, indulging Hoseok for the hell of it, though he ends up losing miserably. 

Towards the end of class, the professor explains that there will be an assignment due in two weeks to be done in pairs. Changkyun’s not really worried about who his partner will be, if he can choose his own partner, he’s snagging Hyungwon first before Hoseok can claim him. If the pairs are assigned, he’ll most likely end up with a stranger anyways seeing as there’s nearly seventy people enrolled in the whole class. The chances that he’ll end up paired with Hoseok are extremely unlikely, almost astronomically impossible. 

* * *

“Don’t look so glum, Changkyun-ah, I know I’m not the best student in the class but I won’t drag you down,” Hoseok chuckles as he watches the maknae sulk in the passenger seat. 

“Astronomical chances my ass,” Changkyun mutters quietly under his breath. They’re on the way to the now familiar apartment after having agreed that it might be better to get the project done and over with as soon as possible. 

When they enter the apartment, the living room is dim with the only source of light coming from the open blinds of the window. An excited puppy greets them with enthusiastic barks and Changkyun chuckles as he pets the chocolate poodle and then walks further inside the room, sitting down in front of the coffee table. 

“Where is everyone?” Changkyun asks, looking around the empty living room. He knows that Jooheon’s got a long afternoon class but Minhyuk and Hyunwoo were usually free around this time. 

Hoseok takes off his jacket and glances at the weak sunlight pouring in through the window, reaching for the switch next to the door that will turn on all the lights. Instantly, it’s brighter and it looks a little more cheerful in the room.

“Hmm, Jooheonie’s in class, and Hyunwoo is probably working out at the gym. I think Minhyuk is with his brother, he mentioned something about lunch...Then again, I was half-asleep this morning when they were talking so don’t quote me on that.”

Changkyun hums in acknowledgement and sets down his heavy book bag next to him, taking out his textbook and his notes as well as a pencil. Hoseok sits across from him and pulls up the rubric for the paired assignment on his laptop and places the laptop in between them on the the table. 

“What do you want to do the assignment on? Seems like we’ve got three different topics to choose from,” Hoseok explains as he browses through the instructions. Changkyun leans in closer to look at the screen and catches a faint whiff of cigarette smoke as he gets closer to Hoseok. Changkyun’s nose wrinkles at the smell and the unpleasant memory that it dredges up and he backs away quickly.

“Where are you going?” Hoseok asks with a puzzled frown, watching the younger man as he stands up abruptly. 

“I’m thirsty, I’m just going to grab a glass of water,” Changkyun explains over his shoulder as he walks towards the kitchen. Filling a glass of water doesn’t take him long, but trying to drill it into his own head to act normal takes quite a bit longer. When he returns to the living room, Hoseok looks mildly suspicious but Changkyun diverts any questions from the older male by instantly speaking of the topic for their assignment, effectively distracting him. 

They work side by side for a couple of hours until Changkyun’s concentration starts wavering from the fact that he’s hungry. Hoseok doesn’t seem to notice that they’ve worked past lunch time and that it’s gotten quite late until Changkyun’s stomach rumbles loudly in the middle of Hoseok asking him a question.

“Oh, I didn’t realize it was this late,” Hoseok murmurs as he looks at his cell phone. “You should’ve told me you were hungry,” Hoseok chastises with an amused grin as he watches Changkyun trying to cover up the sounds of his stomach by zipping up his jacket. 

“I’m not that hungry,” Changkyun lies through his teeth. “I guess I should get get going,” he continues and starts to pack up his notes and his textbook. Before he can get too far, Hoseok places a steady hand on top of his shoulder and squeezes it lightly, frowning.

“I’ll just make something here, don’t worry about it. Well, I hope you don’t mind if it’s ramen because I’m not much of a cook,” Hoseok admits with a crooked grin. 

Nervous all of a sudden, it takes Changkyun a couple of seconds to respond. “Ah, ramen’s fine. It’s probably what I would be eating if I went home now anyway,” he admits. “I suck at cooking too.”

So that’s how Changkyun ends up sitting across from Hoseok at the dinner table on a Thursday night, sharing a pot of steaming hot ramen while he tries not to cry at the unbearable heat in his mouth. Hoseok had asked him earlier if he liked spicy noodles and Changkyun had nodded in affirmation but he had no idea how much he would end up regretting it. Taking another sip of the red broth, Changkyun inwardly curses the older man out. This wasn’t a regular spicy hot, this was coming straight from the seventh layer of hell kind of hot.

Changkyun can’t help the fact that he’s sweating buckets underneath his jacket or the fact that beads of perspiration are gathering on his brow; he discreetly tries to use a napkin to wipe at his forehead and underneath his running nose but Hoseok’s crooked smile and loud laughter make him forget all about being subtle; it’s too late, the older man has already noticed his miserable state. 

“I thought you said you liked spicy noodles,” Hoseok accuses him while he covers his mouth and laughs at the sight of Changkyun’s sweaty visage. 

Changkyun glares in return but it doesn’t do much to deter Hoseok’s laughter. “This isn’t spicy, this is straight hell fire,” Changkyun grouses back with a miserable frown as he hisses through his teeth, grabbing his glass of water and chugging it down desperately. It doesn’t help in the least. 

“It’s not that bad,” Hoseok insists but when Changkyun’s nose starts dripping blood a few minutes later, he practically falls off the kitchen stool in his hurry to get a handful of napkins, handing them over to Changkyun who stares at them in confusion until he catches sight of the red liquid dripping on his shirt. Closing his eyes in embarrassment, he crumples the napkins into a big wad that he can place underneath his nose. 

“Fuck! I didn’t realize it was that hot,” Hoseok grumbles self-accusingly, glaring at the pot of ramen in the middle of the table and the red pepper flakes floating around the noodles. “I’m sorry,” Hoseok apologizes with a grimace, “but to be fair, I did warn you that I was a pretty terrible cook.”

Changkyun looks at Hoseok sitting across from him and the narrowed glower that he’s sending at the defenseless pot of ramen, and looks back down at himself where he’s made a mess of his jacket and pants and he can’t help but to laugh self-deprecatingly.

“It’s okay, it’s my fault,” Changkyun admits. “I don’t usually get nosebleeds when I eat something spicy, at least not anymore; it used to happen when I was younger. I should’ve just been honest and said that I don’t like spicy foods too much.” Trying not to trip over himself, Changkyun cautiously stands up. “Can I use the bathroom to clean up?”

“Of course,” Hoseok replies, standing up and leading the way, turning on the lights in the hallway to make it easier to see where they’re stepping. It’s getting closer to evening now and the apartment is slowly getting darker as it gets closer to nighttime. 

“I’ll get you some clothes,” Hoseok murmurs when they split ways in front of the bathroom. Changkyun nods and enters the bathroom, heading straight for the sink where he turns on the tap and cups a handful of water to bring closer to his face and clean away the drying blood. He knows that he’s not supposed to use warm water because it makes the blood flow faster, so he settles for the frigid cold tap water and dabs gently around his nose, watching the light pink liquid flush down the drain. 

He can’t help but feel angry at himself. The atmosphere earlier had felt nice as he shared a conversation with Hoseok about the rather mundane but interesting topic of their families but he had ruined the moment with a nosebleed, of all things. Changkyun lets the reality of it sink in and he closed his eyes, feeling frustrated and embarrassed.

“Are you okay?”

Changkyun startles at the question and he opens his eyes to meet Hoseok’s gaze through the mirror. Hoseok looks concerned, though it probably had something to do with the fact that he had come back to the bathroom to find Changkyun with his eyes closed deep in thought, nose still bleeding.

Changkyun attempts to smile but it ends up looking like a grimace. “I’m fine, just thinking.” 

Hoseok doesn’t look convinced but he walks forward anyway, setting down a bundle of clothes next to the sink and reaching for a washcloth in a nearby rack. He wets the cloth under the stream of water and leans forward to dab at Changkyun’s nose gently. “I got you Minhyuk’s clothes to wear. He’s taller than you but you’re about the same size otherwise, apart from your shoulders. You’ve got a small frame,” Hoseok explains, dabbing at the faint traces of diluted watery blood. Maybe it’s Changkyun’s wild imagination running free, but he doesn’t really think he’s imagining the diminishing distance between himself and Hoseok as he towers over him, leaning down as if to see better. 

Changkyun can’t help the fact that he zeroes in on Hoseok’s lips, red and plump from the spicy ramen earlier, or the fact that he gulps loudly at the feeling of Hoseok’s hand as he raises his chin gently, trying to get a better view under the bright lights shining down from the vanity. He feels like he’s missing something somehow, noticing the minuscule tick of Hoseok’s mouth as his lips quirk up the slightest amount.

The slam of the door interrupts Changkyun’s train of thought and he jumps slightly, noticing that Hoseok’s also backing away from Changkyun to look at the open door of the bathroom, trying to see who had arrived. He looks irritated for some reason, though Changkyun can’t fathom why he would be mad at all apart from the fact that his dinner was ruined. 

“Minhyukkie must be home,” Hoseok concludes and he’s right as their blond friend appears in the doorway of the bathroom a second later, humming to himself. He stops at the sight of Changkyun and Hoseok both in the bathroom, Hoseok still clutching a bloodied washcloth in his hand. 

“Slight accident, no big deal,” Hoseok interrupts before the blond can jump to conclusions.

“Okayyy,” Minhyuk frowns, looking skeptical. He sends Hoseok a long and calculating look before he turns to look at Changkyun, finally smiling at the wide-eyed gaze he receives in return. “I got dinner for us,” Minhyuk announces with a widening smile as he picks up his hand and waves around the bag of takeout in victory. 

“Good, because I ruined dinner and almost poisoned him,” Hoseok exhales with a forlorn sigh, setting down the washcloth near the sink and walking out of the bathroom. “Change clothes so you can eat,” he reminds Changkyun before he walks away from the bathroom completely. 

“Am I missing something? He didn’t actually poison you did he?” Minhyuk asks, concerned as he leans forward to look at Changkyun. He looks okay, apart from the fact that he’s lightly sweating and his lips are stained red.

“He made spicy ramen and I got a nosebleed,” Changkyun answers honestly, looking at the doorway of the bathroom and looking somewhat disoriented by the train of events. 

Minhyuk hisses in sympathy, having been an unwilling taste tester whenever Hoseok felt like cooking. Ramen was Hoseok’s favorite but that didn’t necessarily mean that he could cook it well.

“Let’s get you cleaned up so we can eat _normal_ food,” Minhyuk persuades, and Changkyun shakes his head as if to clear away his disorientation and smiles back at Minhyuk in agreement. 

“Sure, hyung.”

After changing clothes, Changkyun puts his clothes in the hamper with Minhyuk’s promise that it’ll be washed and returned next time they do laundry. He should probably soak the jacket if he doesn’t want it to stain, but the jacket’s black to begin with so Changkyun doesn’t really care all that much. 

When he leaves the bathroom and heads for the living room, he’s surprised to see Hoseok getting ready to go out, pulling on a leather jacket and staring at himself in the mirror next to the entrance, tousling his hair until he looks presentable. 

“How do I look?” he asks, tugging on the collar of his jacket and straightening out his clothes as he stares back at them. Hoseok could make a paper bag look good, and he knows it, and Minhyuk and Changkyun both know it as well so they ignore his fishing for compliments in favor of spreading out the containers of chinese food across the living room table. 

“You guys are assholes,” Hoseok mutters back mutinously when it’s clear that they’re ignoring him, and Minhyuk snorts at the same that Changkyun smiles at the frustrated tone evident in his voice. He leaves the apartment without saying goodbye but Changkyun knows he’s not truly angry. 

While eating dinner, he can’t help but recall the events of the day and he’s stuck thinking about the close proximity that he had shared with Hoseok earlier, his mind unhelpfully looping the moment when Hoseok had raised his chin and looked at him straight on, gaze smoldering as he slowly leaned in to kiss him–or was that his imagination filling in the blanks with what he wished happened?

“You’re such a space case, Changkyun-ah,” Minhyuk teases next to him and Changkyun blinks and focuses back on the movie they’re watching. 

“I’m not,” Changkyun denies, reaching over and stealing one of Minhyuk’s egg rolls in return.

“You are,” Minhyuk smiles and pulls him in for a hug, crushing him against his side until Changkyun complains.

Jooheon arrives home when they’re almost done with their food but he doesn’t seem to care that dinner’s mostly gone, he slinks in with a tired groan and takes Changkyun’s almost empty plate and begins to eat what’s left of it, uncaring that the food is cold by now. 

“This is good,” he murmurs through cheeks full of food, leaning over and reaching for Minhyuk’s plate as well, which the blonde gladly hands over. 

“Wanna order some pizza?” Minhyuk asks, feeling bad for the younger man. He had ordered plenty of food for at least three people but he didn’t really expect that Changkyun would have a black hole for a stomach similar to Hyungwon. Appearances were deceiving, it seemed. 

Luckily, there’s no need to order more food because Hyunwoo arrives only a few minutes after Jooheon carrying another bag of takeout and eating a churro by himself. He’s practically mobbed by Jooheon, who gladly takes the takeout bags and spreads out the Mexican food and digs in without permission; not that he needs it.

After the movie ends, Changkyun asks if someone can drop him off at campus. He hates to be a bother but he would rather not walk for three miles to get home nor does he feel like catching a bus because he’s actually low on funds as much as he hates to admit it. Jooheon asks if he wants to sleep over instead and he quickly agrees, tired from the long day of working on classwork and sleepy from food and the ice cream he had for dessert. 

He shares the bed with Jooheon this time, who mumbles underneath his breath when he sleeps but Changkyun doesn’t mind. He turns around and glances at the picture frame next to Jooheon’s bed, falling asleep to the sight of Jooheon and his mom smiling happily at the camera. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Several notes about the chapter:  
> 1\. Changkyun's a total idiot, Hoseok isn't actually drunk when he's texting him but Hoseok's too amused to correct the assumption.  
> 2\. Mark's apartment is huge because he's fucking loaded. Deal with it.  
> 3\. If you haven't guessed it by now, there's tons of idol group cameos including Got7, Seventeen, Exo, Vixx, Sistar and BTS in the future. If you don't recognize a character's name, it's from one of these groups. 
> 
> Thanks for reading ^^


	4. Chapter 4

{Interlude}

Once he leaves the apartment, Hoseok walks around the neighborhood without a clear destination in mind. The street is nearly empty tonight and Hoseok hunches forward and tightens his leather jacket around himself despite the fact that he’s not cold at all. He’s sweating actually; beads of perspiration gather on the nape of his neck and Hoseok growls slightly as he uses the sleeve of his jacket to wipe at his damp skin in irritation. 

Barely a few seconds later, Hoseok takes a seat on the bench of the bus stop and blows out a drawn out sigh. He’s tired and frustrated, and he’s still hungry, to top it all off. He hadn’t even finished the pot of ramen before the incident with Changkyun happened. His stomach growls with hunger pangs and he resolutely ignores the sensation. Why did he even leave the apartment? 

The truth is that he knows exactly why but he’d rather not think about it. Would rather forget about the fact that he almost kissed Changkyun, _would_ have kissed him if Minhyuk hadn’t interrupted them. For some reason, Hoseok can’t stop thinking about Changkyun; the little idiot’s wide-eyed gaze and his red-stained lips and his trembling, sweaty hands. Why the hell is he so hung up over that little nervous idiot?

“Fuck this,” Hoseok mutters angrily to himself and takes his cell phone from the pocket of his leather jacket. The scent of smoke clinging to his jacket is faint but it’s enough to drive him to call the person responsible for it in the first place. Of course, it’s just his luck that Taehyung doesn’t answer the one time Hoseok really needs him to—the redhead is probably too busy playing overwatch with his roommates to answer the damn phone. Hoseok lets the phone ring all the way through to the automated voicemail message before he hangs up and tries once again. After the second time, he stuffs the phone back in his jacket and abruptly stands up. If he can’t take out his frustrations in bed, he might as well do the one thing he does best—annoying the shit out of one of his best friends.

Half-an-hour later, Hoseok walks into a small cafe and and sits down at the bar, instantly turning around in his seat to stare at the short cashier taking orders. When Kihyun finally notices Hoseok sitting there, he looks at him with a slightly suspicious frown before he continues conversing with the customer in front of him with his fake customer service smile, slightly strained around the edges as he watches the girl in front of him taking out penny after penny from her coin pouch. 

After Kihyun stuffs all the pennies into his register, he walks away from the spot in front of the register and comes to a stop in front of Hoseok with an unimpressed frown. “I’m not giving you any free coffee, you peasant.” 

Hoseok smiles at his surly friend. “I’m not here for free coffee, Kihyun-ah. I just wanted to see you.”

Kihyun seems surprised at the revelation. “That’s hard to believe,” he mutters before he walks away to return to the register, a tight smile on his face as he greets a customer that had just walked through the doors. 

Later, once the sudden rush of customers dies down, Kihyun places a large steaming cup of coffee in front of Hoseok despite his earlier warnings and he leans his hip against the counter. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

Hoseok reaches for the large cup in front of him, chugging down the scalding hot drink like it was water. “Who said anything was wrong?” 

Kihyun raises his eyebrow and then snorts disbelievingly. “You’re full of shit—I can tell something is bothering you so just tell me what it is.”

“Or what? Are you gonna sic Hyungwon on me?” Hoseok snickers at the thought. “That string bean couldn’t hurt a fly if he tried.”

Kihyun bites his lip hard, trying to hold back his laughter at the insult against his unsuspecting boyfriend. “Tell me or I won’t give you a blueberry muffin.”

Hoseok purses his mouth and turns to look at the display shelf but it’s fucking empty, of course. It’s late at night and the only thing left is a dried out piece of pound cake. “There’s no blueberry muffins left, Kihyun-ah. Stop playing with my emotions, you heartless munchkin.”

With a slight smirk, Kihyun reaches underneath the counter and pulls out a single muffin, wrapped in layers of transparent cling wrap. “I saved one for you, hyung.” Hoseok instantly reaches for the muffin and Kihyun moves the muffin out of his reach with his eyes gleaming, a distinctly evil grin on his face. “What, you thought I would give it to you for _free?_ Hah, don’t make me laugh.”

There’s a moment of silence while Hoseok debates being truthful and revealing the cause of his frustration. Kihyun unwraps the muffin and takes a small bite, ignoring Hoseok’s angry groan. “Fine, you little shit, I’ll tell you. Now hand over that fucking muffin before I beat your ass.” 

Kihyun laughs at Hoseok’s muttered threats and tosses the muffin to the older man who quickly catches it. Hoseok glares but a second later, he tears into the muffin without a second thought, stuffing the whole thing in his mouth in two huge bites.

“I’m surrounded by savages,” Kihyun laments with resignation as he watches Hoseok devour the muffin. “I’ve got half an hour left and then I’ll be done. Wait for me, okay?”

“Hmfay.”

Kihyun rolls his eyes but he laughs as he walks away to serve another customer. After his shift is done, Kihyun leads Hoseok to his car in the parking lot. Instead of starting the car, Kihyun simply sits behind the wheel and gets comfortable, taking off his apron and carelessly throwing it in the back seat. “Okay, now tell me what’s up, hyung.”

Hoseok shrugs and looks outside the window. “I told you, I just wanted to see you.”

Kihyun’s eyes narrow as he glares at Hoseok suspiciously. “What happened this time? The only time you’re this reluctant to talk is when you mess something up.”

 _Ouch_ , Hoseok thinks but he can’t deny that Kihyun is telling the truth. “It’s nothing really. I just—I almost kissed Changkyun today.”

Kihyun’s eyes widen at the revelation but he doesn’t say anything, just looks away as if gathering his thoughts. Despite being unintentional, his continued silence makes Hoseok feel completely unnerved. He’s half-afraid Kihyun will punch his lights out because of some weird protective urge, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, Kihyun turns to stare at him calculatingly, as if trying to figure out something. 

“I had a feeling that something was going on between the two of you,” Kihyun eventually drawls out. “I can’t say that I’m glad.”

“Why is that?” Hoseok can’t help but ask even though he already knows the answer. It’s not exactly a secret that he likes to sleep around, at least, not to his friends.

“You know why. You don’t do relationships, you’re emotionally constipated or something.”

“That’s rude, Kihyun-ah.”

“It’s the truth,” Kihyun answers, lips drawn tight. Hoseok clears his throat—right, he’d dated Kihyun for a few months when they first met. He tended to forget about it because it was back in high school and he’d practically buried his memories of those hellish, awkward years. 

“...You’re right, it is the truth. I’ve never really fallen in love before, but I’m not emotionless either and I can’t help the fact that I like that little idiot.”

Kihyun breathes out slowly and relaxes against his seat. “So what are you going to do? Changkyun likes you, we both know that. Are you going to give him a chance? Because I’m not going to stop you, you know that. If you want to date Changkyun, that’s your own decision and you’re both adults, nothing I say can stop you…”

“But?” Hoseok prompts, turning to glance at Kihyun through a half-lidded stare, waiting for the rest of his sentence.

“...But if you hurt him, it’s not going to be pretty, hyung. He’s not just a stranger, he’s our friend. And as much as I care about you, I know you can handle yourself. Changkyun? Not so much.”

“Who says I'm going to hurt him?”

“I'm not saying that you will, only that you have the capacity to.” 

Hoseok sighs, turning away from Kihyun to stare at the dark night outside. “I could just pretend that nothing happened and let everything stay the same. Changkyun will stop liking me eventually.”

“You _could_ pretend that nothing happened,” Kihyun agrees. “It'd be cruel to Changkyun but if you don't want to pursue a relationship, then it might be the best thing to do.” 

Hoseok sighs deeply and slumps into the seat while Kihyun starts the car, making his way back home. Kihyun doesn't ask if Hoseok wants to spend the night, he just assumes that the older man is going to end up sleeping on his couch like so many other times before. 

“What are you going to do, hyung?”

“I don't know, Kihyun-ah. I have no fucking idea.”

“You need to figure it out sooner rather than later. Staying in limbo is… painful. Don't make him wait too long, either outright reject him or give him a chance. I just... I want you both to be happy. And I know that you're perfectly fine not being in a relationship, but I really think that falling in love with Changkyun would be good for you. So just think about it.” 

Hoseok stays silent as he stares at the blurry scenery outside until they finally reach the dorms. Right before they enter the dorm, Hoseok surprises Kihyun by wrapping his arms around the shorter man in a loose hug. “Thanks, Kihyun-ah. I still have no fucking idea what I’m going to do, but thanks for putting up with me.” 

Kihyun’s glare softens into something resembling affection. “Anytime hyung… Now get the hell off of me, you fucking smell like cigarettes, you nasty.” 

Hoseok laughs as he puts Kihyun into a headlock. “You’re just asking for it, aren’t you, munchkin?”

Kihyun growls as he tries to pull away from Hoseok’s hold, stumbling forward into his living room. 

“Leave me alone, asshole. Hyungwon! Help me!”

Sprawled across the couch in the living room, Hyungwon looks up from his phone and takes in the scene with a lazy grin. “I have no sympathy for you, Kihyun-ah. And where’s my blueberry muffin?” 

A few seconds later after being informed of the fate of his snack, Hyungwon clings to Hoseok’s back like a monkey and growls. “Bastard, I can’t believe you ate my fucking muffin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just an interlude so it's relatively short and it's been separated mostly because it's not from Changkyun's POV. This interlude serves as a bridge of sorts to lead into the next part of the story. This picks up right after the last chapter so you might want to re-read it to remember everything that happens. The next full-sized chapter should be posted by tomorrow night!


	5. Chapter 5

A few days after the disastrous late night dinner with Hoseok, the older man returns Changkyun’s clothes freshly washed and folded. Changkyun thanks him sincerely as he takes the bundle of clothes from him but as soon as he gets back home, he throws the garments into the back of his closet and proceeds to forget about them. He doesn’t want to think about that night—how he’d embarrassed himself in front of Hoseok and the confusing scene in the bathroom. Hoseok never says anything about it and Changkyun makes himself forget about it as well, embarrassed as he is by the whole encounter. 

As always, school continues, so Changkyun devotes his time between going to class and hanging out with his friends.

Late on a Monday night, Changkyun receives a call from his parents and he doesn’t think twice before answering the phone. Rather than the pleasant greetings and small chatter that he expects from his parents, his dad informs him of the dire situation at home. Changkyun’s mom has been laid off from her job, and although finances are tight, his parents should be able to manage with just his dad’s income until his mom is able to find another job. Unfortunately, their sole income isn’t enough to cover the monthly allowance that’s usually deposited into Changkyun’s bank account which he uses to pay for his dorm fees as well as using the spare money for food and transportation. Changkyun quickly reassures his parents that he’ll be alright and that he’ll find a job to sustain himself. 

Days later, Changkyun has a polished resume in hand but he’s still had no luck finding a job that will accept him with zero amount of job experience. It’s somewhat shameful to admit but Changkyun has been solely focused on his studies up till now at his parent’s insistence and now that he’s trying to find a job, he’s sort of regretting it. 

Three weeks pass by in the same manner and he starts to skip lunch and even dinner when he isn’t hanging around with his friends as they usually pay for his meal anyway. He hates the situation but there’s nothing he can do for now, apart from continuing to look for a job. 

* * *

After his Friday afternoon class ends, Changkyun checks his bank account balance to make sure he has enough to buy something from the cafeteria but he doesn’t have nearly enough money to spend it so indulgently and he rethinks his decision.

Stomach rumbling faintly, Changkyun leaves the quad behind and walks aimlessly for a good while before he settles down to rest against the trunk of a large tree right next to the science building, taking out a book from his backpack to start reading. He’s already promised Hyungwon to meet him at the diner later and although he has no way to get there since he doesn’t have enough money for the bus, he doesn't worry about it too much because he can always just walk there if he needs to, as loath as he is to do it. 

With nothing to do, he immerses himself in the pages of the book spread out before him. He’s past the quad now so it's not as noisy but there’s still a good amount of students milling about and talking to each other. He doesn’t mind the bustle of the crowd too much because it quickly becomes background noise to him, almost gibberish and he easily manages to read a good chunk of the book before he hears a name that pulls him into the present all too abruptly. He looks around himself with a subtle glance, trying not to make it obvious that he’s looking for the source of the voice that had interrupted his reading when he finally catches sight of the culprit that had spoken Hoseok’s name in conversation. 

Of course it's the redhead from the party all those weeks ago, because that's just Changkyun’s shitty luck. The redhead is accompanied by a short friend and they walk right by him, mentioning Hoseok’s name one more time although Changkyun can’t hear enough of their hushed conversation to make out what they’re saying. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Changkyun stands up and grabs his backpack, abruptly turning around and walking away from the now bickering pair of friends as they continue to have a hushed but fierce argument.

He doesn't mean to bump into Hyunwoo while he puts away his book distractedly but perhaps it's for the best because it draws his attention away from the recurring subject of his thoughts.

“Hyung,” Changkyun says, looking up at the tall raven next to a couple of guys who look at him minutely in curiosity before they gloss over him and continue to talk amongst themselves. Hyunwoo happens to be in the dance team and Changkyun’s actually met a few of his teammates before so he isn't surprised to see Hyunwoo hanging out with the small group of people not included in their usual group.

“Ah, Changkyun-ah, I'm glad I found you. Hyungwon told me you might need a ride after class to go to the diner.”

Blinking at the raven, Changkyun frowns slightly. “I was just going to walk there,” he admits with a small shrug. Hyunwoo furrows his eyebrows mildly and waves at his friends as they say goodbye to him and continue to walk past them. 

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Hyunwoo admits softly as he drags an arm around Changkyun’s shoulder and starts leading him towards the parking lot. Changkyun yawns slightly and readjusts his bookbag, looking sideways at the quiet man that reminded him so much of his older brother. 

“Do what, hyung?” Changkyun asks curiously. He can tell that Hyunwoo is thinking about something but he can’t quite place the look on his face. 

“Be stubborn,” Hyunwoo mumbles out and Changkyun blinks back at him in confusion, not quite sure he understands. 

“I’m not stubborn,” Changkyun replies with a quizzical frown and then sulks when Hyunwoo pats his head and laughs instead of responding.

Changkyun doesn’t ask him to elaborate on the matter and instead, walks towards the car in the parking lot while resolutely ignoring Hyunwoo’s laughter. 

The trip to the diner is quick so it’s only five or so minutes later that they’re entering the diner where Hyungwon’s waiting for them. At least, he’s supposed to be there but when Changkyun settles into their usual booth, only Kihyun is waiting and he seems annoyed. Hyunwoo leaves and heads to the counter, presumably to order some food. 

“Changkyun-ah, why didn’t you tell us you needed a ride?” Kihyun asks shortly after he greets him.

Sliding down to the very corner of the booth, Changkyun frowns slightly. “I already told Hyunwoo hyung, I was just going to walk here.”

“Why not take the bus?”

Changkyun blinks and tries to think of a good excuse but he can’t quite think of anything. He doesn’t really want anyone to know that he’s having financial problems, so he settles on a small white lie. “Oh, I missed the bus, actually.”

Kihyun hums and seems to inhale extra slow on purpose, focusing his gaze solely on him. “You’ve got our phone numbers, you could’ve given us a call and asked for a ride.”

Changkyun doesn’t know why they’re stressing the matter and he doesn’t try to hide the fact that he’s confused. “It’s not a big deal, I’m used to walking everywhere.” 

“Just because you’re used to it doesn’t mean you have to resort to that anymore,” Hyungwon interrupts as he joins the conversation halfway through. He slides in next to Kihyun and Changkyun bites at his tongue roughly as he takes in Hyungwon’s wan complexion. Hyungwon had caught the flu barely a few weeks after he last got sick from a cold and he’d already missed a couple of days of class to recover. 

“Shouldn’t you be at home resting? You’re still sick, hyung.”

“I’m fine,” Hyungwon insists, lowering his facial mask to sip at the coffee that Hyunwoo delivers to the table as he slides in next to Changkyun. “That’s just like you, though—you’re always worried about us but when it’s our turn to worry about you, you brush away our concerns. Stop being stubborn, Changkyun-ah.”

Ah, so that’s what Hyunwoo was talking about earlier. Tapping his foot against the floor, Changkyun gathers his thoughts while he watches Kihyun take out a couple of pills for Hyungwon to take, probably painkillers judging by the slight grimace on Hyungwon’s face. 

“It’s not that I don’t think you _wouldn’t_ help me out if I asked for something,” Changkyun begins haltingly, trying to form a coherent sentence out of his jumbled thoughts, “it’s just that..I don’t want to bother you with my problems. I’m not...I just don’t want to be a bother.”

Hyungwon exhales loudly as if in physical pain and grimaces at him from across the table, clutching at his hair and pulling on it in desperation. “You’re so fucking stubborn,” Hyungwon mutters miserably, and Kihyun’s lip twitches before he manages to control the urge to laugh. It’s really not the time. Especially when he’s half tempted to join Hyungwon in pulling his hair out because of Changkyun’s pig-headedness. 

“Why don’t you want to bother us?” Hyunwoo asks, intervening before Hyungwon has a chance to curse some more. “We’re your friends aren’t we? It’s a given that we would want to help you out, no matter if it’s something as mundane as giving you a ride somewhere.”

Changkyun feels stupid being placed in the spotlight but he can’t help but voice his thoughts out loud. 

“I’m not really...worth the trouble? To be honest, I’m not sure why you’re even friends with me...I can’t really contribute much to the group. I don’t have a car. I don’t have a lot of money so you always end up paying for me when we go out and I can’t even help out by cooking because I can’t cook for shit. I-I’m not the easiest person to talk to, I don’t know what to say most of the time and—and—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hyungwon interrupts before Changkyun can continue to insult himself. “Please stop bashing yourself, Changkyun-ah. You’re our friend because we like you. We don’t expect anything in return from you, that’s not how friendships work. Like, at all. And if anybody tries to convince you otherwise, just let us know and we’ll beat the shit out of them.”

“Besides, you’re the youngest. It’s only natural that we would be concerned over your welfare,” Kihyun explains with a gentle tone, taking in Changkyun’s slumped posture and downcast gaze. 

“Let hyungs take care of you, maknae,” Minhyuk adds in with a soft tone, sitting next to Hyunwoo and relaxing against his warm body as he comes over with a tray full of food. He hadn’t wanted to interrupt the moment but he couldn’t stand to listen to the serious conversation without joining in.

“All this fuss over a ride?” Changkyun mumbles a few minutes later, nibbling on the muffin in his hands while he watches them with a frustrated frown. 

“You’re broke as hell and you haven’t been eating lunch for the past week,” Kihyun answers back with a deceptively mild tone. “So that’s what this is about; you know, that pesky little fact that you’ve been _starving_ yourself and you weren’t going to tell us or ask for help.”

Changkyun chokes on the pastry in his mouth and Hyunwoo rubs at his back until he recovers his breath again, swallowing heavily. 

“Oh,” Changkyun responds simply, wiping away the crumbs near his lips. At Hyungwon’s unimpressed stare, he looks down at the tabletop and tries not to flush in embarrassment. Needless to say, he fails. 

* * *

If Changkyun’s surprised by the sight of a whole box of snack cakes that Hoseok shoves into his hands later, he doesn’t show it. He just takes the box and sets it down next to him in the library, trying not to cry from frustration and embarrassment. 

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Hoseok asks, stuffing a cake into his mouth while he pulls out his textbook. Changkyun’s eyebrow twitches involuntarily as he looks around the library and notices the multiple signs proclaiming that food is prohibited in the library. So is trash, but Hoseok doesn’t seem to care as he tears open another snack cake and leaves the wrapper on the table in plain sight. 

“I’m not hungry,” he mumbles back, trying not to laugh at the audacity of his friend as he watches a female student glaring at Hoseok from across the room. 

It’s Saturday morning, so it’s not quite as busy as it usually was during the week which made it the perfect time to meet up with Hoseok to study together. There’s an upcoming chemistry test that has them both on edge, and although they’d asked Hyungwon if he wanted to join, their slender friend had blown off the study date to go eat breakfast with Kihyun before he met up with one of his classmates to work on a project together. 

With a tottering pile of textbooks and notes in front of them, they both sigh dramatically before they reluctantly crack open a textbook and start studying. Although Hoseok gets bored and interrupts him every once in awhile, Changkyun manages to spend a good amount of time hunched over his textbooks and reading the material over and over, trying to memorize it. 

“Hey, Changkyun-ah, do you have any brothers or sisters?” 

Changkyun sighs and gives up studying, closing his textbook while Hoseok cheers in the background. He’s been trying to distract Changkyun for the past hour and Changkyun has finally had enough. “Alright hyung, we can leave. And yeah actually, I have an older brother named Taekyun,” Changkyun responds and stuffs his notes back into his backpack, getting ready to go. “How about you, hyung? Do you have any siblings?”

“Nah, I’m an only child,” Hoseok says as he gathers the pile of books on the table all at once and leaves to put them in the return cart. “Don’t feel sorry for me though, I don’t have to share mom’s love with any other pesky siblings.”

Changkyun laughs at the admission and grins at Hoseok distractedly as he ties his shoelace, which somehow got untied while he was sitting there. When he looks up again, Changkyun catches the unimpressed stare of the student from earlier, who appeared annoyed by the noise they were making. It’s probably for the best that they’re leaving considering that the girl’s been glaring at Hoseok the whole time they’ve been there, apparently holding a grudge against the older man. 

“Doesn't it bother you?” Changkyun asks as he grabs the box of snack cakes on the table, forced to resort to tactfully shoving the snack box into his already full backpack. Shaking with silent laughter at Changkyun’s predicament, Hoseok turns to look at the female student glaring at him from across the room and once he catches sight of the grudgeful girl, winks at her and blows her a kiss. 

“I think she likes me,” Hoseok mock-whispers loudly, a smirk on his face. Which is kind of a mistake because when she stands up, it’s obvious that she’s a weightlifter and Changkyun wants no part of this whole mess. He can practically hear the girl growl in indignation as she stalks forward and before Hoseok can get them further in trouble, he forcefully grabs Hoseok’s hand and drags him away in a full sprint, fearing for their lives. 

They make it all the way outside the library but Changkyun continues to run past another two buildings just in case. 

“Fuck, why would you even provoke her?!” Changkyun wheezes out minutes later right outside the science building. He’s bent over, panting hard as he tries to catch his breath. 

“That was fun,” Hoseok breathes out, relaxing against the brick wall as he takes in Changkyun’s sweaty state with a barely restrained smile. Hoseok isn’t winded in the least, which Changkyun kind of hates him for, so he resorts to glaring at him while he uses his sweatshirt sleeve to wipe away the perspiration on his forehead. 

“For you, maybe,” Changkyun mumbles back and he sets down his stuff on the ground so that he can lean back against the wall as well, halfheartedly watching the people passing by. It’s almost lunch time so he’s almost unsurprised when his stomach chooses to growl right at this moment. He ignores it and Hoseok doesn’t mention anything, probably out of some misplaced courtesy considering he was trying to shove a snack cake in Changkyun’s mouth earlier.

Pushing away wet strands of hair from his forehead while his breathing slowly goes back to normal, Changkyun glances sideways at his friend. “Hyung...it was you, wasn’t it?” He doesn’t have any way to prove it, but he just has a feeling that Hoseok has something to do with all of his friends finding out that he was currently broke as hell.

“What, the interrogation yesterday?” Hoseok replies, seemingly unsurprised by the question. Changkyun grunts in response and watches as Hoseok checks the time on his cell phone. “Yeah, I told everyone else what was going on.” Hoseok looks up from his phone and shrugs half-heartedly. “It’s not my fault though, you left your phone unlocked and I happened to glance at the message you sent to your mom. In the message you mentioned that you had found a job so that she shouldn't worry about you. I know for a fact that you haven't so it wasn't too hard to piece together the fact that you’ve been having money problems. Ever since then, I've been watching you...you've been skipping lunch, idiot, and probably dinner too, judging by the weight you've lost.”

Changkyun has no idea what to say. He doesn’t even know if he’s mad that Hoseok sold him out to the rest of his friends or the fact that Hoseok didn’t bother to confront him about it at all. “Why didn't you talk to me first, then? Why did you tell everyone else but me?” 

“Because I was pissed at the fact that you didn’t say anything or ask for help. I didn’t trust myself not to blow up at you like I did last time… Look Changkyun-ah, I’m sorry that I didn’t talk to you first, but I don’t regret anything. I still can’t believe that you’ve been starving yourself to save money.” Hoseok brushes away his unruly bangs from his forehead distractedly, expression pinched. It was easy to see that he was angry but he was obviously trying to restrain himself. 

“...you had no right to look at my phone,” Changkyun eventually responds as he looks away from the older man, unwilling to let the matter go and feeling confused as hell. He should be mad at Hoseok for revealing his private information without telling him, but at the same time, Changkyun knows he’d do the same thing if the situation was reversed. 

Hoseok looks hard at Changkyun, looking incredulous. “Why the hell not? You take Hyungwon’s phone all the time to play games and he doesn’t give a shit. What, do you dislike me now or something? Am I not allowed to touch your stuff at all?” 

“I—ugh, shut up, hyung. I didn’t mean it like that. Just—just forget about it,” Changkyun answers with his lips drawn tight. Without a second thought, he grabs his bookbag and starts walking away from Hoseok, feeling tired all of a sudden. Lately, he feels like he’s playing push and pull with the older man yet nothing ever happens. Hell, maybe it’s just his imagination but either way, he’s just tired.

When he feels a hand settling on arm, Changkyun startles at the touch, but it’s only Hoseok who pulls on his arm until Changkyun is facing him again. It probably says something about the fact that Changkyun lets him without a single complaint as he looks at the silver-blond expectantly. 

“I’m sorry Changkyun-ah,” Hoseok apologizes quietly, looking at him seriously. “I only did it because I care about you.” 

Changkyun bites his lip hard and looks away from the hard gaze boring into him. “It’s okay, hyung,” Changkyun eventually responds, backing away slightly. “I... I understand, I guess. Just—please talk to me, next time.”

There’s a brief moment of silence and Changkyun doesn’t know what else to say but Hoseok’s gaze is still too intense to handle. Changkyun opens his mouth to say goodbye but his stomach growls again, a loud and angry rumbling sound that lasts for several seconds. 

“Let’s uh, let’s go eat,” Hoseok proposes with trembling lips, trying hard to contain his laughter and Changkyun looks down in embarrassment and nods in agreement. 

They take the bus downtown and it’s only a couple of stops later that they’ve stepped out of the crowded bus and into the equally crowded street. After being pushed one too many times by a random stranger going the opposite way, Changkyun hisses under his breath and glares at the passersby underneath the long fringe of his hair. At the questioning look that Hoseok sends his way, Changkyun shrugs. “I hate crowds.”

Humming in understanding, Hoseok reaches out and switches places with him so that he’s the one having to deal with the crowd while Changkyun stays close to the side of the buildings. 

Once they’re safely seated in the booth of a pizza joint, Changkyun huffs slightly. “We should have put our stuff in my dorm at least,” he mentions and Hoseok shakes his head in agreement. Changkyun’s bookbag and Hoseok’s messenger bag have been pushed underneath the table but it proves inconvenient considering the table’s not that big to begin with. Ignoring the stuffiness of the enclosed space, Changkyun leans in to look at the menu in the center of the table. Since Hoseok’s paying for the meal, Changkyun means to ask for water to be considerate but he’s promptly ignored when the waitress finally comes around and Hoseok orders cokes for both of them. 

“I wanted water,” Changkyun mutters as he kicks Hoseok’s shin under the table.

“Don’t lie, I know you wanted coke. Besides, this is my way of apologizing, okay, so just order whatever the hell you want,” Hoseok responds as he continues to look at the menu. 

When the cokes are brought to their table, Changkyun sips on the drink sullenly, biting at the end of the straw. Feeling a vibration in his pocket, he checks it to see a message from Hyungwon asking where he is. He responds promptly, watching as the waitress subtly leans in to ask Hoseok for their order. You’d have to be an idiot to miss the way that she flirts with an uninterested Hoseok, who ruffles the silver strands over his eyes absentmindedly while he reads out their order. 

Looking back down at his phone, Changkyun reads Hyungwon’s rant about the asshole he’s paired up with for one of his class projects. Laughing quietly to himself, Changkyun responds with a futile encouragement and watches his phone vibrate again as Hyungwon’s rant continues. There’s not much he can do apart from wait till his phone stops vibrating, so he sets it down on the table and looks up to meet Hoseok’s curious gaze.

“Hyungwon is angry,” he explains and corner of his lip twitches silently at the deadpan stare he receives in return.

“That’s a bit of an understatement,” Hoseok replies, watching the phone on the table as it flashes again and again when a new message comes in. He seems able to read part of the messages scrolling through his phone screen, so he laughs when he gets the gist of the messages. “Didn't he mention he got paired with Gunhee or something?”

Changkyun wracks his brain but he can't quite remember if that's the case or not. “I’m not sure,” he responds. “I thought Gunhee was nice,” he continues, hoping that Hoseok will know more about Hyungwon’s project partner and Jooheon’s crush. He’s never talked to Gunhee before but he’s seen him from afar a couple of times around campus, sometimes hanging out with his cousin, Mino. He seems like an alright person, as far as Changkyun’s concerned but he doesn’t really know since he doesn’t know him all that well.

“I like Gunhee, he’s nice enough. A little bit wild and a little bit of an idiot but then again, aren't we all? He’s in Jooheon’s composition classes, I’ve spoken to him a couple of times. He does have a short-temper though, and so does Hyungwon as a matter of fact. They probably just clashed over a difference in opinion or something, don’t worry about it. They’ll get over it.”

Changkyun looks back down at his phone and notices that it’s stopped flashing. He reads through the messages and can’t help but think that Hoseok’s right and Hyungwon’s overreacting. He replies to the messages and promises to meet up with Hyungwon later at his dorm room, thinking of ways to cheer up his friend. 

When the pizza finally arrives, Changkyun eats at a measured pace, watching as Hoseok finishes half the pizza in no time, wiping at his mouth once he’s finished eating. The waitress comes around and asks if they would like to get any dessert and Hoseok half-heartedly peruses the menu again while Changkyun tries to finish chewing the food in his mouth, cheeks puffed up. Although he’s already eaten three slices of pizza, Changkyun’s still hungry. He’s a slow eater but he has a big appetite and Hoseok seems to know this as he leans back into the seat, groaning slightly as he stretches his arms out and relaxes.

“Want some dessert?” Hoseok asks, looking at the menu again as the waitress waits for them. Changkyun’s looking at the prices on the menu though, and he shakes his head no in response. Hoseok’s already spent enough on him, he doesn’t need to add anything else to the bill. Seeing right through the feeble excuse, Hoseok looks up at the waitress as he smiles in amusement at Changkyun’s recalcitrant attitude. “One order of cinnamon sticks with extra frosting, please.”

Groaning to himself, Changkyun reaches for another slice of pizza and tears off the end with a mournful sigh. He hates to be a mooch but he’s given no option by any of his friends as they continue to feed him lunch and dinner. Any time he tries to protest, he’s given a long-winded lecture by Kihyun and he could probably recite the whole thing by now if prompted.

“Don’t be coy, I know you wanted dessert,” Hoseok says as he reaches over and ruffles Changkyun’s hair into a messy disarray, laughing when Changkyun glowers at him with his cheeks stuffed full of food. 

“I hate you,” Changkyun mumbles in a sulky tone while he tears off a pepperoni slice and viciously chews on it. 

“I love you too,” Hoseok teases with a slight smirk, quickly thanking the waitress once their dessert arrives at the table. Changkyun chokes on his pizza and his face turns red but thankfully, Hoseok is too distracted to notice. Watching the older man lick icing off his thumb, Changyun smacks at his chest inconspicuously until he can breathe once again while he does his best to ignore his heartbeat loudly thrumming in his ears. Changkyun knows the older man is teasing him, but he can’t help the way that his heart beats twice as fast and he looks down and focuses on eating, trying to will away the sudden nerves that makes his hands shake. 

When lunch is finally over with, Changkyun feels full to the point of bursting and briefly considers undoing the button of his pants before his sanity returns to him and he merely adjusts the waistband until it sits more comfortably against his stomach. 

Hoseok gets ready to go after paying the bill, grabbing Changkyun’s bookbag underneath the table and handing it to him while he shoulders on his own messenger bag. Before they leave, he takes the receipt from the table and stuffs it in the back pocket of his jeans. Changkyun secretly hopes that Hoseok took the receipt to keep track of his finances because he’s a financially responsible adult, and not because the waitress scribbled her number at the bottom of the crinkled piece of paper. 

Somehow, he can’t make himself believe that it’s for the first reason. 

Looking at the waitress as they head out, Changkyun can’t exactly blame him. The girl who’d been serving them was a blonde bombshell with a pretty smile, if you were into that sort of thing. It shouldn’t bother him as much as it does, but along with the pizza, there’s a heavy weight that settles on the bottom of his stomach and he has to try hard to push away the feelings of irrational jealousy. 

“Thanks for lunch, hyung.” Changkyun whispers sincerely in the bus, seated next to Hoseok. Seeing Changkyun’s weak smile directed at him, Hoseok pats at the crown of his head in acknowledgement. “Anytime, you little idiot,” Hoseok responds with a slight smirk. 

Feeling another jolt of sudden familiarity that he can’t place, Changkyun frowns and pushes Hoseok away with a rough shove. “Stop calling me that, bastard,” Changkun mutters and looks away as Hoseok groans about being manhandled. 

When Hoseok tugs on his arm a few stops later, Changkyun follows after the older man despite the fact that he doesn't know where they are. They walk down the street side by side and Changkyun tries to figure out where the hell Hoseok is taking him.

“Where are we going?” Changkyun asks belatedly, looking around at their surroundings as he tries to match the silver-blond’s fast stride.

Hoseok turns to him and his lips curve up into a sincere smile, his eyes crinkling. “We’re going to the movies.”

“Oh, o-okay,” Changkyun stutters out, completely dazed by Hoseok’s pretty smile.

Even after the movie is long over and he’s playing x-box with Hyungwon later that night, Changkyun can’t stop thinking about Hoseok. 

* * *

“This is a bad idea,” Changkyun feels the urge to say loudly, knowing that his words are next to useless. They’re halfway to the beach and he doesn’t even know how they convinced him to get in the car anyway, yet somehow he’s here, in the backseat of Hoseok’s car with a stuffed backpack full of clothes digging into his shins uncomfortably. Hyungwon’s breathing softly as he rests against his shoulder, practically knocked out less than hour into their car trip. Changkyun’s shoulder can’t be too comfortable but he doesn’t seem to notice as he nuzzles into the crook of his neck, inhaling and exhaling in an even pattern.

Hoseok’s in the front seat driving his own car, naturally, and Kihyun sits next to him on the passenger side, supposedly serving as their navigator, though a very nagging one as he keeps arguing with Hoseok about the correct way to take. 

“In three hundred feet, take a left turn at exit thirty-five—”

“—No! Fuck you Tom, we’re supposed to be going right all the way for another half an hour,” Kihyun argues with the car’s navigation system. 

“If we end up lost or dead, I’m going to haunt your ass in the afterlife,” Hoseok growls out, taking a sharp right turn after Kihyun urgently pulls on his arm and points to a shady looking exit, exactly the opposite of what his navigation system is helpfully instructing them with its robotically pleasant programmed voice. 

Changkyun closes his eyes and groans quietly, feeling sorry for the car following behind them, which includes the rest of their ragtag group of friends. He can practically see Jooheon’s sick complexion in his mind, probably nauseous from the wild course they end up on. 

Another two hours later, they’re at the beach and getting out of the car, though it’s no thanks to Kihyun who adamantly insists his navigation was right even though they ended up on a different beach than they had been aiming for.

“Shut up,” Hyungwon finally growls after waking up from his unrestful sleep, grabbing the collar of Kihyun’s shirt and dragging him in for an open mouthed kiss. The kiss turns rough as Kihyun tangles his fingers in Hyungwon’s hair and pulls on the strands harshly in petty revenge. Hyungwon doesn't seem to mind, judging by the muffled moan that it elicits from the taller male.

Changkyun inwardly thanks his best friend as he quickly looks away from the couple and continues to take out their luggage at the parking lot of the cheap motel they’re staying at, thankful for the momentary silence after having endured hearing Kihyun fighting with the navigation system the whole trip.

“Thank god, peace and quiet,” Hoseok mutters from beside him with a weary groan as he stretches, twisting his arms together and reaching upwards to crack his spine. The loose white t-shirt he’s wearing rides up as he moves, revealing the pale milky skin of his stomach. 

Suddenly having a hard time breathing, Changkyun abruptly turns around and sighs gratefully when he sees his friends finally getting out of the other car. Hyunwoo seems the most energetic, probably because he was driving, and Minhyuk and Jooheon are still sleepy judging by the way they keep rubbing at their eyes. 

Once the scent of the ocean drifts by him in a lazy breeze, Minhyuk opens his eyes wide and starts running to the edge of the parking lot, silently taking in the scant view of the beach that they’re able to see from in between buildings that block their view. The view isn’t very glamorous or pretty, but they don’t exactly have enough money to rent out one of the houses near the beach, and Minhyuk doesn’t seem to care as he grins wide at the sight, instantly enamored. “I love the beach,” he croons softly, reaching backwards and pulling Jooheon along who stares at the same view and laughs softly to himself, unable to understand the fascination when the only thing he can see is the taco bell across from the motel, watching as somebody takes out the trash. 

“You’re such a romantic,” Jooheon teases the blonde, rubbing at his eyes and yawning slightly. “Come on hyung, let’s get settled in.”

Hyunwoo checks them in at the motel and Changkyun follows behind the eldest as he opens the door of the small room they’re all sharing. It’s got double beds and one small bathroom as well as the advertised amenities of a coffee machine and an ironing board, not that they cared about the small details. 

Before Changkyun can sit down at the corner of one of the beds, Kihyun swoops in and pushes him aside, inadvertently sending him sprawling against Jooheon, who only grunts softly but holds him up.

“Sorry Changkyun-ah, but you can’t sit down yet. These bed sheets are probably filthy and there's no way in hell I'm sleeping on them,” Kihyun complains, pulling the covers right off the bed and bunching them up into a tight ball that he throws at the very corner of the room. He pulls out fresh white sheets from somewhere, goodness knows where, and he starts making the beds anew with Minhyuk’s help, who is used to Kihyun’s neurotic cleanliness by now. That doesn’t take too long, and after several trips back to the car for the rest of their luggage, they’re effectively done checking in. Resting against the headrest of a bed with Hyunwoo seated next to him, Changkyun yawns and closes his eyes, falling asleep quickly. 

It seems like only a few minutes later that he’s been shaken awake and when he opens his eyes reluctantly, he notices that he’s being stared at by his best friend. 

“Come on, Kyun-ah, we’re going to the beach for a couple of hours before we go out for dinner. You need to change into your swimming trunks.”

Mumbling back an incoherent groan in protest, Changkyun closes his eyes again but allows himself to be dragged up by Hyungwon’s sturdy arms and before he knows it, he’s been effectively stripped of his shirt. When his pants are unzipped though, his mind seems to wake up fully and he yelps out loud and quickly zips up his pants again, glaring at Hyungwon. 

“I can change myself,” he complains, a flush taking over his face and turning his complexion cherry red, especially when he realizes that he’s being watched by their amused friends as they wait on him to finish changing. He quickly bails from the situation, holing himself up in the bathroom and quickly changing, taking a few minutes to will away the redness in his cheeks.

A few minutes later, he joins his friends and they head out to the beach, everyone carrying a towel in their hands and Hyunwoo carrying a small cooler with water bottles stuffed inside.

“Why are we even at the beach?” Changkyun questions suddenly, following behind Hoseok as he leads the way down to the coast. “Spring break already passed.”

“Appa lost a bet,” Jooheon pipes up and cackles, looking back at the older man. 

“More like you guys tricked me,” Hyunwoo defends with a slight glower directed at Jooheon and Minhyuk. Changkyun wants to ask what happened but the dark expression on Hyunwoo’s face makes him rethink how wise that would be.

“Ah don't be like that hyung, you know you love us,” Jooheon whines and Minhyuk sidles up next to Hyunwoo and clings to his arm, batting his eyelashes. 

“Do I?” Hyunwoo retorts with a skeptical expression and instantly, Minhyuk’s bottom lip sticks out in a sullen pout. Hyunwoo lets out a roaring laugh as he crushes Minhyuk to his side and hugs him. “Don't sulk, Min-ah, you know I love you.”

A few minutes later, they’re close enough to the beach that they can feel the meager grass turning into sand and Minhyuk runs for it with a loud whoop, tearing off for the edge of water while lugging around his bright pink inflatable donut to keep him afloat, since he apparently can’t swim. Changkyun races Hyungwon and Jooheon to the water as well, trying to catch up with the blonde as they trudge through the treacherous sand that makes their feet sink in with every step. 

“It’s hot,” Changkyun complains to himself, taking off his slippers since the sand keeps wrenching them off from his feet. When he gets close enough to the water, he laughs at the sight of Jooheon backtracking as quick as he can at the sight of a crab wandering around the shore and he hesitantly walks forward until his feet are inches deep in water. The tide washes over his feet as it comes in slowly in its usual pattern, washing foam between his feet and cooling off the sting of hot sand. The water’s a bit colder than he would prefer, but Changkyun doesn’t hesitate in wading in further until he’s knee deep in water. Letting go with a careful smile, he lets himself fall backwards until he’s completely in the water. He lets himself float with the tide, relaxing his body and watching as Hoseok and Hyunwoo join them in the water, Hyunwoo walking towards Minhyuk and helping him get into the donut while he keeps a careful eye on the blonde to make sure he doesn’t drown. 

Hoseok tries to join Changkyun in relaxing in the water but he’s stopped by Hyungwon, who splashes salty water at his face, making Hoseok grimace at the unpleasant taste before he gets close enough to retaliate, pinching Hyungwon’s side and quickly wading away, trying to avoid the splashing that follows him. A watery fight ensues and Changkyun’s not stupid enough to get in the middle of it, though Minhyuk has no qualms about joining in and teaming up with Hoseok to win against Hyungwon. 

Looking back at the shore, Changkyun watches as Kihyun sets up his towel on the beach right underneath an open umbrella, putting sunscreen on his skin once again before he lays down to relax, pulling out a book to read. Jooheon sits with him, though Changkyun feels sorry for the brunet because he seems bored as he watches them from afar. Leisurely making his way back to the shore, he ignores the errant splash that soaks the side of his head and he walks towards Jooheon. 

“Come on, hyung,” Changkyun cajoles, grabbing Jooheon’s hand and pulling him to the water. 

“Hell no, there are crabs there! I saw one with my own eyes!” Jooheon pleads, trying to pull away from his grip. At the terrified tone of his voice, Changkyun abruptly stops and turns to look back at the second youngest. He doesn’t want to force Jooheon to enter the water, he just wants to reassure him that it’ll be alright. 

“Hyung, I promise you that you’ll be safe. I’ll be right there with you, come on,” Changkyun softly explains, dropping the sweaty hand in his grip, sending Jooheon a small grin to try to encourage him. 

“I’d rather not,” Jooheon mumbles back, watching the incoming tide with a distrustful glance. Slightly disappointed, Changkyun smiles back and hums. 

“Okay, hyung. Put on some sunscreen, you’re getting sunburned,” Changkyun reminds him before he heads back into the water. This time, he ventures out deeper and enjoys the sound of the crashing waves as he floats, gradually getting closer to Minhyuk until he’s right next to him and he can grab the side of the floaty and relax. Minhyuk’s skin is hot as he grazes against it while trying to get a better grip, and Changkyun gazes at the blonde who’s blissed out under the sun, noticing the rosy complexion on his cheekbones. 

When Hyunwoo asks him to keep a watch on Minhyuk, Changkyun nods and watches as Hyunwoo swims further into the ocean, a quick and powerful swimmer. 

“He’s like a dolphin,” Minhyuk describes as he watches him swim away, smiling at the sight. “Eeeeeeek eeeeeek,” he imitates with a high pitched squeak, smiling at the laugh that he manages to draw out from the maknae. 

Hyungwon comes around eventually to talk to them but when he tries to grab the other side of the floaty, it starts to sink. Minhyuk scrambles into Hyungwon’s arms with an unrecognizable thrill of sound, and Hoseok takes over soon after and lets Minhyuk wrap his legs around his waist and holds onto him tightly before he can start to really panic. The water’s waist deep and if Minhyuk stood up, he’d be just fine but none of them point it out, just head to the shore where Jooheon and Kihyun are waiting for them. 

“Let’s go eat,” Hyungwon says once they’re safely on the shore. Hyunwoo comes out minutes later, grabbing a towel and reaching out to dry Minhyuk’s wet hair. Minhyuk leans forward to rest his head against his chest, cheerfully recounting the story of his near death while Jooheon laughs silently behind him.

“Sharks, you say?” Hyunwoo repeats in mock surprise, indulging the blonde while he watches everyone else gather their belongings. Changkyun puts on his sandals once again and follows the group as they head back to the motel to shower before they can go out to eat. It’s a little early for dinner, but the car ride had drained them and they were all equally starving. 

When they finally arrive at the hotel, they have a quick battle of rock-paper-scissors until they’ve decided the order they’ll shower in. They’re all in pairs as it is, just to make it quicker but Changkyun’s lucky enough to win the first round which means he can go first and by himself if he wishes since there’s an uneven number of people. When he catches sight of Kihyun’s gloomy expression, he offers to switch with the older man, who gratefully thanks him and rushes into the shower, complaining of sand in unholy places. 

“Let me help you, I’m a priest,” Hyungwon deadpans and follows after his boyfriend regardless of the fact that he’s already been paired up with Hoseok. 

After Kihyun and Hyungwon come out of the shower looking a little more flushed than normal, Jooheon and Hyunwoo go next. When they're both finished with their shower, Minhyuk loudly apologizes before he rushes into the bathroom, urgently needing to take a piss. The blond takes the opportunity to take a shower by himself, like the sly devil he was. 

Changkyun doesn’t really care, he just leans back against the side of the bed and idly watches the TV in the center of the room, flipping through channels on his own until he stops on cartoons. There’s nothing better to watch, really.

When it’s finally Hoseok’s turn to shower, Changkyun startles at the nudge on his side until he notices that Minhyuk had just exited the small bathroom. Right, only he and Hoseok are left… He follows after Hoseok and tries to relax when the bathroom door closes. After holding his breath for a few seconds, he takes off his clothes before he can start to doubt himself. It’s only a shower between friends, there’s no reason to be nervous or act weird about it. 

With that in mind, Changkyun gets into the shower first and turns on the spray of water, setting it to lukewarm considering the heat outside. After gathering a small clump of cheap shampoo on his hand, he lathers his hair with it, gently scrubbing at his scalp and quickly closing his eyes tight to avoid getting suds in his eyes, but mostly because Hoseok’s finally joined him in the shower and the curtain’s been shut again, enclosing them both under the spray of water. 

Minutes later, Changkyun startles once he feels a touch on his back and he can’t help but tense slightly even if he knows it’s just a warm washcloth. He knows that it’s common courtesy to wash your friends back in a bathhouse but now he’s frantically trying to recall if that applies to a shower between friends as well. He has no freaking idea. 

It feels good though, Changkyun can’t deny that, and he finds himself relaxing under Hoseok’s careful ministrations as small concentric circles are rubbed into his back and upwards towards his shoulders, smoothing over the nape of his neck gently. It takes Changkyun a while to realize that Hoseok’s probably been done for a few minutes now but he’d been so engrossed in the feeling that he’d let the other continue regardless. 

“Ah, thanks hyung,” Changkyun mumbles out through the sound of running water, opening his eyes and turning around to look back at Hoseok. “We can switch now.”

With a small smile, Hoseok slips past him to take his spot in front of the shower spray, guiding Changkyun with a hand on his hip until they’ve switches places, making sure he doesn’t slip. 

Changkyun scrubs at his own skin with the body wash that Kihyun had left in the bathroom, watching as Hoseok washes his hair. It’s hard to deny the urge to look down and admire the view right in front of him, but Changkyun is able to resist as much as it physically pains him. He’s not a creep, and as much as the temptation tries to convince him otherwise, he’s not going to use this opportunity to view Hoseok’s body in a voyeuristic manner. Instead, he takes the washcloth from earlier and soaks the cloth with bodywash liquid before he tentatively reaches out to touch the supple skin of Hoseok’s back. When there’s no outer sign of anger, he takes it to mean that he can return the favor and so he starts washing Hoseok’s back in the same manner that he’d been treated to, with short small strokes as he gently lathers the skin underneath the washcloth. 

Hoseok hums in appreciation, and Changkyun bites at his tongue as he continues washing the silver-blond’s back. He doesn’t know when to stop, but luckily, Hoseok takes the matter into his own hands as he turns around and spins his hand, signaling for another switch. It doesn’t take too long for them both to finish after that, and Changkyun takes the towel he’s offered and wraps it around himself, drying off quickly and changing before Hoseok’s even done drying his hair. 

When he leaves the shower, he hopes to hell that nobody asks him why his cheeks are tinged red, but he doesn’t think anybody will notice considering that they’re all a bit sunburned, regardless of the sunscreen they’d used. 

They head out soon after, walking into town and heading towards the pier nearly a mile away, where the best restaurants are located near. They settle for a seafood place, because it would make no sense to have chicken when they’re right near the ocean. Kihyun silently despairs but he doesn’t complain when they're seated at a table and they order several different plates to share. 

Dinner is loud as usual and Changkyun’s somewhat grateful that they’re seated in the outside section of the restaurant so that they’re not stared at by the locals when Minhyuk recounts the story of his near death again, with further embellishments, to an amused Kihyun.

“To pieces, you say?” he asks with a shocked face, smacking Hoseok’s hand without looking as he tries to steal food from his plate. Changkyun laughs at Hoseok’s sour expression, reaching across quickly and managing to steal a whole shrimp while avoiding Kihyun’s punishing hand. 

He doesn't eat it, just reaches over and offers it to Hyungwon, who leans in and eats the shrimp from his fingers with a happy hum of approval. Hoseok glares at him for the rest of their dinner. 

After they finish eating, Minhyuk cajoles the group into walking to the fishing pier nearby. He doesn’t have to try very hard, it’s only past seven and the night is still young. Following behind the blond, Changkyun has to keep brushing his unruly bangs out of his eyesight as the wind begins to blow stronger in gusts. When he finally manages to get to the end, ambling behind his friends, he sits down next to Hyungwon on the damp wooden floor of the pier. From this distance up high, they can observe the waves from the sea as they stretch out into the horizon. It’s mesmerizing; the sky is a myriad of colors ranging from pale pink to a dusky peach and slowly turning into the indigo purple of incoming night. 

“I’m glad we came,” Kihyun mumbles as he relaxes, leaning into Jooheon who only sighs with resignation and lets him. Jooheon suddenly smiles as he watches the sea and then turns to look at Changkyun with a sly grin.

“Even if we practically had to drag Changkyun to the car?”

“Especially because of that,” Kihyun replies with a triumphant smirk. “Changkyun-ah’s too serious. He needs to lighten up a little.”

Changkyun rolls his eyes at the exaggeration. It was true that he had protested the trip but only because he was in the middle of job-searching and he kind of needed the money to stop being a mooch. And anyway, he had agreed to come at the very end, though it mostly had something to do with Hoseok’s silent pleading gaze and less to do with Minhyuk’s whining, as much as the loud blond credited himself for convincing the maknae. 

“I’m not trying to be a wet-blanket and ruin all the fun,” Changkyun tries to explain. “I just really need to find a job.”

Hyungwon instantly notices the carefully blank expression on Changkyun’s face, recognizing it for what it is, the fact that he’s upset and doesn’t want to show it. With a frown on his face, Hyungwon pushes Kihyun away and although the push wasn't that hard, his boyfriend wasn't expecting it in the least so he bumps into Jooheon who in turn manages to sprawl across Hoseok’s lap. Predictably, Hoseok’s not the least bit affected by the force of the push and he just grunts, glancing down at the brunet in his lap who starts to get comfortable instead of getting up, using his thigh as a pillow. 

Kihyun growls and straightens up with a fierce glare at being pushed away but he deflates as soon as he notices that Hyungwon’s truly angry.

"Kihyun-ah, think about what you say before you say it," Hyungwon mutters quietly. Kihyun bites his lip in confusion but when he turns to look at Changkyun and sees the blank expression on his face, he seems to realize that he’s stepped over an invisible line without meaning to.

“I—sorry, I was just joking around.” Kihyun says regretfully.

Before Hyungwon can reply, Changkyun quickly intervenes. “Hyung, it’s okay. I know you’re just teasing. I don’t mind.” 

Seeing as the pinched expression still hasn’t left Hyungwon’s face, Changkyun snuggles into Hyungwon’s shoulder and hums. It takes a bit but even with his eyes closed, he can slowly feel Hyungwon’s shoulders unwind from their tensed position. 

“Ah, Kyun-ah, I feel like an idiot,” Minhyuk pipes up sheepishly from a few feet down. “I forgot to tell you, but the dishwasher at auntie’s place quit like two days ago. The job’s yours if you want it; it’s not very luxurious and it doesn’t pay super great but you can get free meals every night if you wish. Plus, you’ll be working with me and Hyunwoo can give us a ride home on—” before the blond can say anything else, Changkyun’s already gotten up and tackled him, engulfing him in a tight hug which he immediately returns with a bright laugh at the younger man’s enthusiasm.

“Hyung, that would be amazing. I would love to work there,” Changkyun mumbles as he’s crushed against Minhyuk. “Consider it done.” 

Changkyun relaxes against the blond after a few minutes and considers going back to his original place next to Hyungwon, worried that Minhyuk will get tired of his clinging. He knows better by now though, and he immediately dismisses the intrusive thought. Instead, he turns to to look at his tall friend down the pier. Watching as Kihyun and Hyungwon whisper softly enough for only the two to hear what they’re saying, he decides that he doesn’t want to interrupt the two lovers, even if they would let him. They take care of him too much. With a soft smile as he watches Kihyun link hands with Hyungwon, Changkyun turns back to rest his head against Minhyuk’s shoulder. He closes his eyes temporarily and breathes in the scent of the sea as he listens to Minhyuk and Hoseok talk about their hometowns.

Minhyuk is from a town near the coast so he’s used to the beach and finds himself missing it a lot.

(“If you’re from a town near the sea, why can’t you swim?” Jooheon questions with wide eyes, and he regrets the inquiry a second later when he’s flicked on the forehead with no warning. “I hate you, hyung.” Which is a complete fucking lie, everyone knows that Minhyuk is his favorite hyung.)

Hoseok also grew up in a little fishing town off the coast, though his family later moved to the city. He recounts the tales of when he was younger and used to sneak out late at night to go hang out at the beach with his friends, coming back home in the middle of the night and trying to sneak into his room quietly.

“It never worked,” Hoseok recounts with a fond smile. “Mom had ears like a bat back then. She liked to wait until I was relaxed and safely in bed before she would come storming into my room and yank off the covers only to tell me I was grounded until I was thirty. She never did follow through.” Hoseok laughs, eyes crinkled into crescents as he remembers the past. 

“You’re such a sap,” Jooheon accuses and Hoseok doesn’t deny it, just looks up at the sky and watches the stars with a crooked grin. 

By the time the sun has set and the moon is full in the sky, Minhyuk decides that he wants to go to the beach again. Without much prompting, they all get up from their positions seated around the pier and head back out, trekking their way back to the shore. The beach isn’t completely empty, some of the locals still wandering around and enjoying the breezy weather, and they spot an older woman walking her dogs. They lose Minhyuk and Jooheon for a couple of minutes while they converse with the older woman and lean down to pet the excitable dogs.

Changkyun debates joining them but decides that the dogs are a little too big for comfort, and he trails after Kihyun instead, linking arms with him as they keep walking. 

“Do you think we can start a fire pit?” Kihyun asks, looking at Hyunwoo who is walking slightly ahead of them. 

“I think it’s allowed—in fact, I’m sure I saw the remnants of one earlier. Want to try?”

“Yeah,” Kihyun answers. “Changkyun is getting cold.”

Changkyun trips on sand at hearing his name being mentioned and the only reason he stays upright is because Kihyun holds him up. “I didn’t say I was cold.”

Hoseok snorts. “You don’t need to, you get clingy whenever you want to warm up.” Changkyun looks back at the silver-blond trailing behind, dragging a tired Hyungwon along with an arm loosely hanging around his shoulder. 

Changkyun harrumphs at the assumption but doesn’t say anything else because he’s right. 

When they finally decide on a place to stop, Changkyun sits down on the sand and plays with it absentmindedly. He’s tired, it’s been an extraordinarily long day, even if he’s enjoyed every second of it. He’s hardly paying attention while the hyungs talk about buying provisions, so he doesn’t realize what’s going on when Hoseok nudges him as he walks by and Kihyun and Minhyuk usher him up and start the walk towards the town. “We’re going to the store to buy some stuff, come on.” Changkyun looks back a few minutes later as he realizes that the rest of the group isn’t coming. He distantly hears Jooheon and Hyungwon whining and watches as Hyunwoo laughs at them. 

“They’re going to gather driftwood to start a fire,” Hoseok explains once he realizes that the youngest is confused. 

“Oh, okay.” Changkyun doesn’t ask anything else, internally glad that he was exempt from the task. If he could avoid physical labor, he would gladly do so. 

Fifteen or so minutes later, they’ve arrived at a grocery store located conveniently near their motel. Kihyun grabs a cart while Minhyuk reads back the list he’s compiled on his phone. Hoseok heads to the back of the store and Changkyun debates internally for all of a few seconds before he follows behind the silver-blond. He’s not surprised in the least when he sees that Hoseok heads straight for the alcohol section. With a wry smile, he follows behind as Hoseok grabs a twenty-four pack of cheap beer and starts to compare the prices of strong liquor on the shelves. Changkyun tries to take the pack of beer from him, trying to help, but he’s laughed at instead.

“It’s heavy,” Hoseok warns with a chuckle, and when Changkyun insists with a defiant stare, he merely quirks an eyebrow and hands over the pack, watching as Changkyun’s arms are dragged down from the weight. “Suit yourself.”

Huffing slightly as the full weight settles in his arms, Changkyun tries to straighten up and look more dignified but he can’t quite manage. Still, he stays silent and doesn’t complain while he follows Hoseok around the store. At some point while Changkyun struggles with the overbearing weight in his arms, a small whine leaves his traitorous mouth and Hoseok abruptly turns around and takes the pack of beer from him, looking flustered for some reason. He presses his lips tight and shakes his head as if trying to dispel an errant thought. “You’re a stubborn idiot.”

Changkyun’s too glad to be rid of the weight to retaliate right away, but when he finally regains the feeling in his hands, he punches Hoseok’s arm with a loud grunt, who merely laughs at the sad excuse for revenge. 

“You suck,” Changkyun mumbles under his breath, cheeks tinged the slightest shade of red. 

When they finally meet up with Kihyun and Minhyuk, Changkyun looks over at the groceries in the cart and hums in approval. He follows along with the cart, poking at stuff and moving it around to see what’s underneath so he doesn’t notice when he’s left alone with Kihyun until the older man sheepishly coughs into his fist to get his attention.

Changkyun looks up with a carton of juice in his hands, looking around and blinking once he realizes that Minhyuk and Hoseok have disappeared to wander around the store once again. 

“Changkyun-ah, I’m sorry.” Kihyun belatedly apologizes, rubbing the nape of his neck in slight embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to make you upset earlier. I say mean things sometimes even if I don’t mean them. Everyone’s used to it already, which is no excuse, but I forget sometimes that you don’t really take that sort of stuff well.”

Changkyun nibbles on his lip at the reminder from earlier and then smiles at Kihyun. “Ah, hyung, don’t apologize. I know you were teasing.” 

“You didn’t enjoy it, so it doesn’t really count as teasing.” Kihyun answers, a small frown etched on his face. 

“It’s not your fault that you stated the obvious,” Changkyun laughs, a self-deprecating smile on his face. He can’t help the fact that his face is an open book, he can’t hide anything from his close friends or his family because they see right through him. It’s hard to stop them from noticing when he’s upset. 

“Changkyun, please don’t bring yourself down again,” Kihyun murmurs.

“I’m not—”

“Have you apologized yet?” Hoseok unabashedly interrupts from a few feet away. Changkyun and Kihyun startle but they’re both inwardly grateful at the intrusion. Apologies are always awkward, and the atmosphere was getting a little heavy; now was not the time for a heart to heart, especially in the middle of a grocery store. 

“Yes.” Kihyun rolls his eyes at Hoseok’s impatience and turns to point at the cakes and pastries on display next to them. “Pick one out,” he urges the maknae, bumping his hip against Changkyun’s. He doesn’t want to make it seem like it’s a bribe, but it sorta kinda totally _is_ a bribe in return for being forgiven. Changkyun’s got a bit of a sweet tooth and they all know this by now, and Kihyun’s not ashamed to exploit the knowledge. 

Confused but not willing to let the chance for free cake go by, Changkyun points at a small round cake with strawberries adorning it, a simple vanilla cake absolutely smothered with buttercream icing. “That one,” he mumbles and Hoseok reaches forward to grab the cake, placing it in the cart. 

“You’re going to regret getting something so sweet,” he mutters and they all laugh when Changkyun stubbornly crosses his arms and snorts.

“No I’m not.”

_{ One Hour Later }_

Changkyun totally regrets it. He’d rather shoot his foot than admit it out loud though, so he spoons another bite of cake into his mouth and tries not to grimace at the melting buttercream coating his tongue. Hoseok’s gazing at him from across the campfire and Changkyun isn't ready to admit defeat quite yet. 

“I don’t know what you’re trying to prove, but you’re going to get sick,” Hyungwon warns from beside him, sticking a finger in the icing and placing it in his mouth to taste. “Why don’t you save it for tomorrow?”

“No,” Changkyun rebels, slapping away Hyungwon’s hand as he discreetly tries to take the cake away. “It’s not about proving anything, it’s about sending a message,” he whispers back, firelight making his eyes glow in the dark. Hoseok and Minhyuk cackle from across the campfire at hearing the not so quiet exchange. There’s approximately three empty beer cans next to Changkyun and he’s not as quiet or subtle as he thinks he is when he’s tipsy. The slurred tone doesn’t help much either. 

Changkyun’s not completely drunk though, and when he feels his stomach churning slightly, he covers the cake once again and puts it aside, sighing loudly in defeat and remorse. 

It’s late now, close to midnight and the fire has died down significantly from its former glory. Changkyun’s huddled next to Hyungwon and Jooheon as they crouch near the fire with their backs resting against a big log of driftwood that Hyunwoo had managed to drag over. 

“Two months to go and the semester is over,” Hyunwoo muses, looking into the fire and humming to himself. 

“Don’t even,” Hoseok starts, grabbing a handful of sand and throwing it at Hyunwoo’s feet where it lands harmlessly. Changkyun laughs and moves until he’s resting on his back, lying flat on the ground while sand trickles in between his toes. He digs in his heels and begins to wear little grooves in the sand, exhaling slightly at Hyunwoo’s reminder. 

After this semester, Hyunwoo and Hoseok have one year left before they graduate. Changkyun doesn’t want to admit it to himself, but he’s scared of what the future holds. His life has come to include a group of friends that he can’t imagine living without, and he doesn’t want to face the reality that everything might soon come crashing down around him. Life wasn’t like it was in the movies; friends became strangers, lovers broke up, and time and distance would gradually make them all drift apart. The thought is terrifying. 

Changkyun looks around the huddled circle of his friends and simply observes. Hyunwoo, Kihyun and Hoseok talk amongst themselves, calm voices getting lost as the wind blows by. Jooheon and Minhyuk are laughing as they look at Kihyun’s cellphone where a video clip is playing, presumably of a moment from earlier today. Changkyun can barely hear his own voice as it comes from the phone’s speaker. 

Feeling a familiar weight on his leg, Changkyun jolts slightly and turns to look at the profile of his best friend. Hyungwon is too busy staring at Kihyun from across the fire to pay attention to the fact that he was drumming his fingers across Changkyun’s leg, but Changkyun smiles at the wistful look on Hyungwon’s lovely face. He closes his eyes and relaxes. There’s no point worrying about the future, whatever happens would happen whether Changkyun willed it or not. With that last thought, he inhales the scent of the sea and listens to the crackling of fire and calm waves lapping at the shore, the sound of laughter gradually growing fainter. 

* * *

Changkyun wakes up in a panic, gasping loudly in the darkness of the room. It takes him several minutes to realize that he’s in bed next to Jooheon, though the rest of the room’s occupants are all still asleep. He can’t quite remember the nightmare that woke him up but he still has a vaguely unsettling feeling in his chest and his breath keeps coming in short hurried bursts as his lungs try to recover. Hyunwoo’s snoring helps to alleviate some of the distress, the mundaneness of it comforting in its familiarity. 

Feeling out of sorts, he stumbles out of bed and ambles into the bathroom, being careful to walk around Hyunwoo and Minhyuk who are sleeping on the floor on top of a thin mattress. He closes the door behind himself and turns on the dingy light, turning on the tap and cupping his hands underneath the faucet to catch the water. He leans forward and splashes his face, waking up completely at the cold sensation. Only a few minutes later, he looks around briefly and gives up on recalling the nightmare that had awoken him; it’s futile by now, there’s no recollection of actual events but merely just the feeling of fear that stays with him and refuses to leave.

After leaving the bathroom, he looks around for a few minutes and manages to make out the light of a phone charger near the wall. He walks up to it and picks up the charging phone, glancing at the time on Minhyuk’s phone. It’s barely past three in the morning, and somehow, he’s not the least bit surprised.

With a resigned sigh, Changkyun grabs Minhyuk’s phone and stuffs it in the pocket of his jeans. He doesn’t bother looking for his own because he has no idea where it is, and besides, he knows the other won’t mind. 

After grabbing a random pair of sandals near the entrance, he silently opens the door, or at least tries to. The hinges creak loudly and he cringes at the sound and holds his breath until the door is finally closed. He looks at the dark parking lot of the motel and decides to walk towards the beach, the dim yellow streetlamps lighting his way. 

Perhaps it’s because Changkyun’s distracted by his thoughts but he doesn’t hear anyone behind him until he’s almost halfway to the beach. The slow and methodical sound of muted footsteps registers only when they get close enough to walk beside him. Glancing sideways, Changkyun meets Hoseok’s silent gaze for half-a-second before he looks away again with a small quirk of his lips.

They continue to walk in silence until they can finally see the cresting waves hit the shore underneath the moonlight. Changkyun stops at the edge of the water, contemplating. Hoseok confidently walks past him into the shallow water until it reaches his ankles and he grabs Changkyun’s hand and pulls halfheartedly until Changkyun finally gives in and joins him with a resigned sigh. The water is cold but he doesn’t complain, just continues to wade along the edge of the water with Hoseok until they’ve walked for a good mile or so down the coast. It’s late enough that they don’t encounter anyone else and he’s inwardly grateful for the solitude. 

Resisting the urge to reach for Hoseok’s hand again, Changkyun eventually turns around and starts heading back the way they came. He’s not sure how much time has passed during their midnight excursion but eventually they walk back until they find the remnants of the cold campfire from earlier in the night. There’s no warmth coming from the extinguished ashes, they’ve been drowned with water to prevent any mishaps from happening but Changkyun huddles close and imagines that he can feel the phantom heat. Hoseok sits down on the sand next to him, drawing in his knees and resting his head on his arms. They don’t say anything for a long while.

Offhandedly observing the shivers that wrack Changkyun’s body, Hoseok takes off the thin grey hoodie he’s wearing and drapes it over Changkyun’s shoulders, who smiles crookedly in return. 

“You have approximately four or five jackets in your closet and I’ve even seen Hyungwon buy you one. Why don't you ever wear them?” 

Changkyun blinks at the sudden question and then bites at his lip, turning to look at Hoseok. The silver-blond is hardly looking at him though, his eyesight is distant and fixed on the horizon that stretches before them. 

Changkyun shrugs his shoulders even though the other can't see it. “I forget.”

Hoseok snorts slightly but before Changkyun can feel offended, Hoseok turns to look at him and grins. “Just admit that you're a space case.”

“I’m a space case,” Changkyun deadpans, mostly to see how Hoseok will react. The loud infectious laughter that follows is exactly what he’d been hoping for. Hoseok drags him closer and hugs him, the breath of his laughter tickling his neck as he’s crushed to Hoseok’s side. The musical sound eventually dies out, carried away by the cool breeze blowing in from the sea. 

“Do you feel better?” Hoseok asks with a soft voice and Changkyun’s momentarily confused until he remembers the reason he left the motel in the first place. The feeling of deep unease and the senseless fear that had followed him from his nightmare into waking consciousness is gone now. In its place is left a feeling of peace and quiet contentment. 

“I feel fine,” Changkyun murmurs. He buries the urge to ask Hoseok if he had followed him in order to make sure he was alright. Whether this was the case or simply a coincidence, he’s afraid to find out.

“Good.” Hoseok leans back and lays down on the sand with his arms cradling his head and Changkyun copies the action. Conversation dies after that and Changkyun enjoys the silent atmosphere while he can as he watches the millions of stars above them, trying to remember the name of the constellations all the while he steals glances at Hoseok out of the corner of his eyes. When Hoseok stands and pulls him up by the arm later, he lets him though he can’t help the groan as his tired muscles stretch. 

The walk back to the motel is short and Changkyun debates taking another shower when they’re finally inside the motel room; ultimately he decides against it. Instead, the bathtub faucet is turned on and Hoseok and Changkyun take turns washing their legs and feet of the sandy grit that sticks to them. 

After washing his face one more time, Changkyun leaves the bathroom and hesitates as he glances at the bed in the very corner of the room where Jooheon lies. The brunet is in deep sleep, the kind where you laid still and didn’t move an inch the whole night, waking up in the same position in the morning. He probably wouldn’t even feel it if he got back in bed. Still...

“Can I sleep with you?” Changkyun whispers, sweat gathering at the nape of his neck. He’s nervous and only after he said the words does he realize that they sounded vaguely suggestive. At least the room is dark and he’s thankful for small mercies. 

In the middle of arranging the blankets on the floor, Hoseok stops and looks up at Changkyun hovering nearby. Silently, he reaches over to Kihyun and Hyungwon’s shared bed and pulls the cover right off, shushing Changkyun’s murmured protests. 

The pair is left without a blanket and Kihyun mumbles in his sleep and rolls over to huddle into Hyungwon’s side, seeking warmth. Hyungwon doesn’t seem to notice either way. 

After Hoseok finishes rearranging the blankets once again, he lays down with a sigh and pats the space next to him. “Come here,” he instructs. Changkyun hesitates for a second before he kneels and crawls into the space, lying down on the padded cover that serves as their makeshift mattress.

It’s uncomfortable—the blanket is too thin to provide any real padding and there’s also something digging into his side—but he doesn’t care. 

Without prompting, Hoseok pulls him closer and wraps an arm around his waist, rubbing the jutting bone of his hip as if to warm him up. The ever present chill in his bones starts to go away and Changkyun gradually inches closer until he can nuzzle into the crook of Hoseok’s neck. His heart beats fast and his palms are slick with sweat, but Hoseok’s ministrations manage to break through his nervous shell and he unconsciously begins to relax, breathing in the scent of Hoseok’s skin. Eventually, he closes his eyes and falls asleep in Hoseok’s arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think ^^  
> Also, next chapter is officially the start of Wonkyun ♥ Look forward to it!


	6. Chapter 6

Things return to normal once they return from their weekend beach trip, at least as normal as they can get. On a sunny Tuesday evening, Changkyun shows up at the diner that Minhyuk’s aunt owns and sits in a corner while he waits to be interviewed for the dishwasher job. Minhyuk is somewhere in the back near the kitchen where he supposedly went to go check his schedule. 

Glancing at his phone as it flashes from a text message, Changkyun wipes his sweaty palms on his denim jeans and checks it. It’s only Hyungwon, wishing him good luck and another message from Jooheon asking if he’s seen his flash drive anywhere; he’s lost it and has been looking for it apparently. He responds to the messages while looking up continuously, waiting for the shift manager to appear any second.

A few minutes later, Minhyuk returns with a stack of folded clothes in his hands, a shiny new name tag lying on top. Changkyun takes it, glancing down at his name printed on the nametag in surprise. 

“What about the interview?” Changkyun asks, glancing at Minhyuk in confusion. 

“I’m the shift manager on Tuesdays and Thursdays; I hardly think I have to interview you,” he chortles, shaking with laughter as Changkyun keeps blinking at him.

Half-an-hour later, Changkyun’s filled out all the paperwork and he’s changed into the new uniform, struggling with tying the strings of his apron behind his back as he walks to the kitchen where Minhyuk is waiting for him. Minhyuk laughs at his attempts before showing him the proper way to put it on. 

He shadows Minhyuk for the whole evening, the blond showing him where all of the equipment is kept and the proper way to rinse the dishes with the spray before washing them. Changkyun learns how to wash the large pots and the sharp knives in the fastest and safest way possible as well as the regular plates, cups, and silverware. The job’s not that difficult but it’s tiring and both Minhyuk’s and Changkyun’s uniforms get soaked with water regardless of their precautions.

The hardest part of the whole evening is when Minhyuk takes him around to meet the other employees. Naturally, all of them are college students, and a few of them greet him with familiarity as if they already know him. At least he’s already wet so nobody notices the fact that he’s sweating through his uniform as he greets everyone in return while inwardly cursing his obliviousness. 

Despite his reservations, the whole evening goes a lot smoother than he was expecting it to go. It probably has something to do with Minhyuk’s presence, though that only makes him more nervous when he realizes that he won’t be working with his friend every day. 

At the end of the shift, Changkyun finishes up the last of his tasks and takes off the apron, placing it in a plastic bag. His clothes are damp and Minhyuk glances at him and bites his lips, wrinkling his nose and frowning slightly. “Sorry Changkyun-ah, I should have told you to bring some spare clothes.”

Changkyun shrugs off the apology with a small smile and waits while he watches Minhyuk lock up the storefront, jiggling the door to make sure it’s secure. They wave goodbye to Hakyeon, a fellow coworker, and walk a couple of blocks down to the bus stop. Hyunwoo has the car today as he needs it to go grocery shopping and either way, Minhyuk doesn’t seem to mind walking. 

“You hungry?” Changkyun looks sideways and watches Minhyuk lift up a takeout bag full to the brim. “Let’s eat,” the blond concludes without waiting for an answer. 

It’s eleven p.m. and the breeze is warm for the first time this year. Underneath the shade of a large tree, they sit down on an uncomfortable wooden bench and open up one of the plastic containers, taking turns eating with the shitty plastic silverware while they wait for the bus. Minhyuk talks with his mouth full and Changkyun listens, interjecting occasionally and making the older man laugh. It's peaceful, somehow. 

* * *

After his morning class, Changkyun trudges behind his friends as they carry their lunch trays and head for the quad. Once they find their usual table, everyone settles into their seats, though Hoseok is already sitting down since he arrived earlier than them. Noticing that there’s an empty space at the table right next to Hoseok, Changkyun quickly sits down next to him while trying not to be obvious about it, though judging by Hyungwon’s hidden smile, he must not do a very good job of it.

“Kihyun-ah, you’re smiling, did something good happen?” Hoseok questions as he spoons rice into his mouth. 

Kihyun glares at Hoseok, looking offended for some reason. “Do I need to have a reason for being happy?”

“Yes,” Hoseok fires back, lips quirking in amusement. 

“Jackson fell and tripped in the cafeteria,” Jooheon explains, laughing at the sour face that Kihyun makes when he reveals the reason behind his good mood. In revenge, Kihyun reaches for Jooheon’s bag of chips and starts munching on them. 

“You’re making it sound like I enjoy watching others in pain and misery—” Kihyun grouses as he stares at the brunet seated across from him. 

“Uh, you do, though,” Jooheon interrupts with a deadpan stare. “Like, all the time. You're causing me pain and misery right now, actually. Stop eating my chips, hyung!”

“No,” Kihyun answers as he bites into another chip. “What was I saying… Oh yeah, I'm actually a really nice person, and I definitely don't wish pain, misery, and bad luck on certain individuals. Except Jackson, but he doesn't count.” 

“See, you were doing really well until you got to the end there, then it kind of went downhill. Maybe omit that last statement and somebody might actually believe you,” Hyungwon teases as he leans across to pinch at Kihyun’s cheek, who merely growls and bats his hand away. 

“Yah, respect your elders,” Kihyun frowns, rubbing at his reddened cheek. Hyungwon laughs quietly at the admonishment and leans in to press his lips against his boyfriend’s which makes Kihyun stop complaining almost instantly, quickly deepening the kiss with his hand coming up to cradle Hyungwon’s nape.

“Can you _please_ stop making out in front of me? I get enough of that shit at home. I've walked in on Minhyuk and Hyunwoo playing tonsil hockey too many fucking times,” Jooheon mutters with a disgruntled frown. The only reason he isn’t instantly assaulted by an indignant Minhyuk is because neither he or Hyunwoo could make it to lunch.

Changkyun grins at the disgruntled expression on Jooheon’s face and steals a fry from Hoseok’s plate while he’s not paying attention. 

“Is that the only thing you’ve walked in on?” Hoseok questions with a slight smirk and Jooheon shudders dramatically in response. 

“You know it’s not, I’m fucking scarred for life!”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Changkyun asks with a small teasing smile and Jooheon stares at him in betrayal.

“No, I don’t want to talk about it, you little shit. In fact, I’m leaving,” Jooheon says as he abruptly stands up and grabs his bookbag, grabbing the lunch tray and balancing it on his hands. 

“Oh come on, we’ll stop teasing you. Sit down and finish your lunch,” Kihyun responds, returning the bag of chips to Jooheon’s tray. 

Jooheon picks up the empty bag and shakes it, laughing with disbelief at Kihyun’s audacity. “Nah, I actually do have to leave, I’ve got something to do.”

“You mean stalking Gunhee?” Hyungwon interrupts, raising his eyebrow skeptically. 

“I’m not stalking him. If I conveniently end up where he is at the exact same time, how is that my fault? …I’m just kidding Changkyun-ah, don’t look so alarmed. I'm actually hanging out with Jackson tonight, see you guys later.” 

Once he’s gone, Kihyun huffs slightly. “I can’t believe he’s actually friends with Jackson,” Kihyun grouses while Hyungwon silently shakes with laughter at his boyfriend’s sour face.

After lunch, they all go their separate ways. Kihyun heads for the library, and Hyungwon leaves to meet up with one of his professors with a rather put-upon expression on his face, nevermind the fact that Hyungwon asked for the meeting in the first place. 

Without really discussing it, Hoseok and Changkyun continue walking through the quad side by side. Neither of them have class after this, and Changkyun’s futilely trying to think of something to talk about when he trips over something and falls on his hands and knees. Almost instantly, Changkyun staggers back up again and readjusts his bookbag, trying to pretend like nothing happened.

“Why are you so clumsy?” Hoseok laughs, leaning down to dust off Changkyun’s pants from the debris that stuck to the fabric. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” Changkyun grumbles, elbowing Hoseok on the side as he continues to laugh. His hands ache from the fall and he’s pretty sure he scraped the skin off his palm but he doesn’t say anything, only clenches his throbbing hand tight while they continue walking through the quad.

“I wonder why Minhyuk and Hyunwoo hyung couldn’t make it to lunch,” Changkyun questions out loud, moving closer to Hoseok to avoid a group of friends walking by the opposite way. 

“Hyunwoo probably went to go practice his dance routine. The dance team’s got a competition coming up in a few weeks.”

“Do you think Minhyukkie hyung went with him?” Changkyun asks and the corner of Hoseok’s lip quirks upwards. 

“Probably. He never misses Hyunwoo’s practices if he can help it.”

“Oh, that's really sweet of him,” Changkyun voices out loud and Hoseok snorts.

“Sure, if that’s what you want to call it. I'm pretty sure he just doesn't want to miss the sight of Hyunwoo sweating through his clothes.”

Changkyun laughs and looks down at the ground, shaking his head as if to clear away his thoughts. A few seconds later he looks around and blinks. They've somehow walked all the way to Hoseok’s car in the parking lot and he’s not even sure how it happened, as distracted as he was by the easy conversation with the older man. Hoseok stops beside him and digs for his car keys in the pocket of his jeans, making a noise of triumph when he finally manages the simple task. He walks towards his car and unlocks it and Changkyun feels stupid as he stands there watching him.

“Oh sorry, I didn't meant to follow you, hyung. I was going to the dorms and I guess I wasn't paying attention.”

Hoseok doesn’t say anything, just gives him a cursory glance from head to toe before he sighs softly, expression slightly exasperated. He slides into the passenger seat of his car and leans over the center console until he can reach the glove box to pull it open, quickly grabbing something from the compartment before closing it again. 

“Let me see your hand,” Hoseok commands softly and Changkyun blinks in bewilderment. 

“Why?”

“Because you hurt yourself when you fell and you're too stubborn to admit it,” Hoseok quietly explains, eyebrow cocked as if waiting for him to deny it. 

Changkyun’s hand throbs at the reminder and he finds himself flushing at actually being caught. He didn't think Hoseok would notice. “It’s just a little cut,” Changkyun mumbles but when Hoseok reaches for his hand to inspect it, he gives in because he knows it'd be useless to resist.

Hoseok stares at his palm and Changkyun looks down as well, trying not to grimace at the sight—his palm got scraped to hell on the concrete when he fell and now he’s got patches of raw skin showing though it’s hard to tell because of the thick blood leaking out of the rough looking scrape. 

“Just a cut, huh?” Hoseok drawls with an unimpressed stare as he quickly wraps a handkerchief around his hand to stop it from bleeding more.

“It doesn't even hurt,” Changkyun replies and the older man reaches up to ruffle his hair in revenge for the blatant lie. 

“You're unbelievable,” Hoseok sighs, sounding bitterly defeated and resigned. He crosses his arms and watches him for a few minutes while Changkyun fixes his hair that’s turned into a bird’s nest, trying not to fidget at the attention. “Hey, do you want to come watch some movies at home?” Hoseok eventually asks, scratching at his cheek slightly and looking sheepish for some reason. “Minhyuk rented a whole bunch of horror flicks last week and I haven't watched any of them yet.”

“Yeah, that sounds fun,” Changkyun grins, trying not sound too eager. If Hoseok notices, he doesn't say anything, he merely opens the car door and slides into the driver’s seat once again while he waits for Changkyun to get in the car, tapping the steering wheel with the pads of his fingers to the rhythm of the song already playing through the speakers.

The drive there is mostly silent, though Changkyun can't help but hum along to the music. It's an older song from a Japanese band he used to listen to on repeat back in high school, and hearing it now is pure nostalgia. Halfway through the drive, Hoseok starts mumbling along to the words and although it's clear that he doesn't know the lyrics too well, Changkyun enjoys the sound of his voice too much to protest the rough wails that the older man lets out when he tries to sing a high note way above his range.

When they stop at a red light, Hoseok stops singing mid-sentence to turn to Changkyun and scowl. “Yah, don't laugh at me you little brat.” 

Changkyun shuts his lips tight as they tremble with laughter and he shakes his head back and forth quickly. “I'm not laughing,” he says although as soon as Hoseok returns to singing, he looks outside the window to hide his huge smile. 

When the finally arrive at the apartment, it's empty. Changkyun takes off his shoes at the door and pads into the apartment in his socks, feeling tired and awake at the same time. Hoseok walks down the hall and comes back a few minutes later with a first aid kit in hand and Princess following behind him, tongue lolling out in excitement.

“Let’s get your hand bandaged,” Hoseok says distractedly as he lays the kit on the coffee table and opens it up, searching through it for the necessary items.

“Won’t a band-aid be enough?” Changkyun says while he leans down to pet the dog as she barks and wags her tail, perking up at the sight of him. 

“No,” Hoseok deadpans, soaking a cotton ball with alcohol and asking for his hand once again. Changkyun sighs before he sits down on the sofa to make it easier on the older man and holds out his hand, quickly looking away. He’s not squeamish of blood, but the raw flesh of his palm makes him slightly nauseated so he focuses on the far side of the room until Hoseok finishes cleaning his hand with the soaked cotton ball. Changkyun hisses slightly at the feeling and Hoseok apologizes under his breath, quickly tying the bandage around his hand and fixing a clasp on it so it won’t come off so easily. 

Once he’s done, Changkyun looks down at his hand and moves it around to make sure it’s not too tight. It feels comfortable enough so he looks up and smiles. “Thanks, hyung.”

“You’re welcome, you little idiot,” Hoseok smirks. “Next time, try not to hurt yourself.”

“It’s not like I fell on purpose,” Changkyun defends himself, trying not to sound surly and failing.

“I guess you’re right, Changkyun-ah,” Hoseok murmurs softly in slight amusement. He reaches for two thin and messy blankets lying on the floor and shakes them off slightly before he throws both of them over Changkyun completely, covering his eyesight. Changkyun laughs in surprise and digs himself out of the tangle of blankets, though as soon as he manages to poke his head out from underneath the pile, Hoseok throws a pillow at his head as he starts to walk away. 

“Hyung, where are you going?” Changkyun calls after him in confusion, watching him disappear down the hall. 

“I’m gonna make some popcorn for our horror movie marathon,” Hoseok yells from the kitchen. Changkyun smiles widely in response and relaxes against the sofa, getting comfortable as he slowly winds the covers tight around him like a cocoon. By the time he’s fully relaxed on the sofa, Hoseok returns with a large bowl of buttery popcorn and two cokes, setting them down on the table while he sets up the first movie. Feeling hungry despite having eaten barely an hour ago, Changkyun sneaks a handful of popcorn while the older man is distracted.

“I saw that,” Hoseok warns low under his breath and Changkyun sticks his tongue out and continues eating anyway, grabbing a handful of buttery popcorn and stuffing it into his mouth. Hoseok silently finishes setting up the movie and grabs the controller for the dvd player before he comes back to the sofa and abruptly takes off all the blankets covering Changkyun, ignoring his protests as he sits down next to him and fixes the covers once again. Now they’re both under a warm cocoon of blankets and Changkyun only complains for the sake of complaining as Hoseok nestles into him and presses play on the controller.

Four hours later, Changkyun feels his eyes getting heavier and he blinks his tired eyes, futilely trying to stay awake. At this point, he’s almost lying on Hoseok’s lap as leans into the older man’s shoulder and uses him like a pillow, watching zombies murdering innocent civilians on screen and barely flinching at the screams. They’re on their third movie now and he can’t take it much longer, he’s entirely too sleepy and cozy to move from this position. He hears Hoseok mumble a curse under his breath at the same time that he jumps with fright and Changkyun huffs with sleepy laughter. “Why did you choose to watch scary movies if you hate them so much?” Changkyun asks, voice sounding husky from sleep. Hoseok just pulls the blankets tighter as he feels Changkyun shiver from a cold draft from the A.C. 

Changkyun waits for a response but his eyelids are entirely too heavy to keep them open so he closes his eyes to rest for a little while.

“Because you like scary movies,” Hoseok eventually whispers back as he watches him sleep. 

In the dead of night, Changkyun wakes up in a bed. Hoseok is asleep beside him, facing him with one of his hands splayed across Changkyun’s stomach. The digital clock on the night stand tells him that it’s past three in the morning. Changkyun lays still and listens to the sound of the oscillating fan whirring as it blows air across the room, his heart thrumming fast as Hoseok exhales soft puffs of air right next to the shell of his ear that make his whole body gooseflesh at the intimacy. 

Changkyun moves slowly, turning until he can face the older man and Hoseok gradually stirs awake, blinking at him through half-lidded eyes in the darkness of the room. Without a word, Changkyun leans in close and Hoseok smiles before he meets him halfway, brushing his lips against Changkyun’s, slowly and carefully. It’s a small kiss, barely a peck and as soon as they break the kiss, Changkyun blinks slowly and takes in the warmth of Hoseok’s gaze. He presses closer to Hoseok who wraps his arm around his waist and leans in to press their lips together, slowly guiding Changkyun through their second kiss. The hand at his waist rises upwards to graze across the ridges of his spine before coming to rest at the nape of his neck and Hoseok tangles his fingers softly into his bed-tousled hair and deepens the kiss, tongue licking past the seam of his lips to trace against the tip of his own tongue. Changkun gasps at the sensation—it’s too much all at once and he forgets to breathe as his lungs burn from exertion. His fingers clutch onto the older man’s shirt and he murmurs for air and Hoseok smiles against the curve of his mouth before he finally relents and leans back, letting Changkyun catch his breath. 

Panting softly as he hides his burning face against Hoseok’s broad chest, Changkyun breathes in the clean scent of Hoseok’s soap, his hands still clinging to the thin white shirt underneath his fingers. He wants to ask what this means, if it means anything at all in the first place, and he also wants to kiss Hoseok again but he can't muster up the courage to do so. His thoughts run wild but before doubt starts to sink its claws into him, he feels Hoseok’s arms tightening around him in a firm hold before he’s spun around and Changkyun lets out a loud yelp of surprise at the action as he lands directly in the center of the bed with Hoseok holding himself up right above him. Hoseok laughs at his wide-eyed expression and leans down to pepper small kisses on his neck. “I can practically hear you thinking,” he complains as he brushes his lips underneath his jaw. “It's way too early to have an existential crisis, let's go to sleep.”

“It’s never too early,” Changkyun mutters back, though his mouth twitches and curves into a half-smile. “Sorry for waking you up.” 

Hoseok snorts and settles back into bed beside Changkyun, pulling up the blanket until they’re both covered once again. “Don't be.” 

They both get comfortable once again but Changkyun can't help but stare at Hoseok as he relaxes and closes his eyes, his long eyelashes fanning across his skin in a pretty way. Several minutes later, Hoseok lazily drags open his eyelids at the sensation of two eyes boring into him. He wordlessly takes in Changkyun’s state—practically wired awake with his hands fidgeting on top of the covers as he nibbles on his bottom lip. With a small smirk, he steals one last kiss, a slow drag of lips, before he wraps an arm around Changkyun and holds him tight. 

“Goodnight, Kyun-ah,” he mumbles once last time. Changkyun is unable to stop thinking about everything and it's not until hours later that the warmth of Hoseok’s body and the white noise of the whirring fan finally manage to lull him into a deep sleep. 

* * *

In the morning, Changkyun’s softly shaken awake. He moans in complaint regardless of the gentleness of the action and drags up the blankets to cover his head while he hears Hoseok’s rumbling laughter outside of his warm cocoon. He briefly considers being embarrassed for acting so childishly in front of Hoseok but he’s tired enough that he immediately dismisses the thought. 

“Morning, Kyun-ah. I’m leaving early to go to the gym with Hyunwoo,” Hoseok says and pats his back through the cocoon of blankets. “There’s a bag of pastries in the kitchen, help yourself whenever you wake up. Don’t miss class, okay—I’ll see you later.” 

As Changkyun listens to the sound of footsteps walking away, he lazily unearths part of his face from the blankets just enough to see Hoseok’s retreating form. Hoseok turns back around as if he can sense the action and he chuckles at the sight, walking back to peck his cheek in greeting and murmuring good morning once again before he leaves the room. 

When his alarm finally rings about an hour later, Changkyun is mostly awake. He can hear Jooheon’s alarm from down the hall and with a weary sigh, he finally gets up and takes a quick shower and finishes his morning ablutions. He steals one of Hoseok’s shirts that hang loose on him and wears the same pair of pants as yesterday, hoping that nobody notices. By this point, he’s almost sure that he’s got a couple of garments somewhere in the apartment but he doesn’t feel up to the task of searching for them. 

When he finally walks in the kitchen, Jooheon is half-asleep in his own chair as he eats breakfast while he feeds Princess small pieces of toast. 

“Good morning,” Changkyun greets, laughing as Jooheon jolts at the sound of his voice.

“Fuck, stop doing that!” Jooheon hisses, clutching at the space right over his heart. 

“Doing what? Greeting you good morning?” Changkyun asks incredulously. 

“No, not that, moving like a fucking ninja—ugh, whatever. There’s a pot of fresh coffee if you want some.”

Humming in acknowledgement, Changkyun pours himself a cup and sits down across from Jooheon, reaching for the brown bag in the center of the table and taking a sweet bun from inside. When they’re both done with breakfast, Changkyun picks up his book bag from next to the entrance and follows Jooheon to the bus stop, sitting down beside him and looking outside the window as they make their way to the college. Hyungwon and Jooheon have similar temperaments in the morning, so he knows that he has to wait for Jooheon to start conversation unless he wants to get his head bitten off from his current state of extreme grouchiness. He’s proven right when five minutes later, Jooheon suddenly starts a conversation with him that lasts all the way until they have to split up ways at the quad as both of their buildings are in opposite directions. 

The day passes by quickly and after Changkyun gets home from work with his soaked uniform, he takes a scalding hot shower and lays in the center of his rickety bed in preparation for his delayed existential crisis (wherein he questions his existence and the meaning of life while simultaneously remembering the softness of Hoseok’s lips). Fortunately, he receives a call from Hyungwon barely a few minutes into his crisis, so he gladly answers the phone and listens to Hyungwon ranting about Kihyun being mean. Changkyun hums and makes understanding noises every once in a while, smothering his laughter when he hears Kihyun yelling at Hyungwon to stop hogging the covers. 

“You can’t even feel the cold, you lanky fuck, stop stealing the fucking covers,” Kihyun yells in the background. 

“I’m still sick,” Hyungwon mutters back mulishly and Kihyun snorts loudly. Changkyun can’t see the older man but he’s one-hundred percent sure that he’s rolling his eyes hard at this very moment.

“I’m pretty sure you’re faking. You can’t have the flu for two months Hyungwon-ah, you’d be dead by now!”

“I’m dead inside, doesn’t that count? Leave my corpse alone and stop tugging on my blanket fort!”

“No,” Kihyun growls back. “…At least let me into your fort, dumbass.”

A few minutes later, Changkyun hears a suspiciously muffled moan before the phone call ends abruptly. Changkyun allows himself a good, long laugh at the expense of the two lovers before he reaches for his phone again and pulls up his messages, suddenly getting an urge to text Hoseok even if it was now past two in the morning. Regardless of the late hour, Hoseok quickly responds. 

* * *

The next time Changkyun meets Hoseok is in class the next morning, though the silver-blond looks busy as he works on his laptop while he barely pays attention to the lecture. Changkyun alternates his time between taking notes and sneaking glances at Hoseok. Every once in awhile, he also pokes Hyungwon’s side to prevent him from falling asleep, though Hyungwon hisses like a disgruntled cat every time he does it. 

When class ends, Changkyun barely has the time to ask if Hoseok wants to borrow his notes before the older man smiles distractedly and thanks him. “I can’t make it to lunch. I’ll text you guys later,” Hoseok says and leaves with a frown as he glances down at the screen of his phone. 

Changkyun stares after Hoseok with his stomach tied into knots while Hyungwon only waves at him halfheartedly and yawns. “I can’t wait for classes to end,” he complains with a forlorn expression, rubbing at his eyes with a clenched fist. 

Changkyun hums in agreement as they start walking to the cafeteria and he has to tug on Hyungwon’s sweatshirt to prevent him from crashing into a light post on the way there.

“Thanks, Changkyunnie. I’m just so tired, I barely got any sleep last night,” Hyungwon explains as he links arms with Changkyun and lets the shorter male guide him. 

“I wonder why,” Changkyun mumbles sarcastically under his breath and Hyungwon looks at him bewildered for one second before he starts to laugh loudly, doubling over and shaking from the force of his laughter.

“Cheeky brat,” Hyungwon accuses fondly as he struggles to catch his breath and wipes away tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes. “It’s not because I had sex with Kihyun, if that’s what you’re implying.”

Changkyun has enough grace to blush and Hyungwon simply laughs as Changkyun starts walking faster as if to get to the cafeteria quicker. He’s foiled as they run into Minhyuk and Hyunwoo and after exchanging short greetings, they find out that they’re busy once again, leaving the two of them alone for lunch since Kihyun is staying late after class for vocal practice and they have no idea where Jooheon’s run off to. 

“Let’s go out to eat, then,” Hyungwon proposes as he looks around the busy quad. Changkyun quickly agrees and half an hour later, they’re sharing an order of chicken wings with a basket of fries at a nearby restaurant. Changkyun waits for Hyungwon to say something while he sips his drink and Hyungwon licks the hot sauce on the pad of his thumb before grabbing a wet napkin to wipe his fingers clean. Hyungwon talks about how busy Kihyun is now that it’s almost the end of the semester. It doesn’t help that he has to do his RA duties on top of that while also keeping up with his job. 

“He’s been running around like a headless chicken,” Hyungwon chuckles. “Still… everything kind of sucks because our anniversary is coming up and he’s been so stressed out, you know? I just want to spend some time alone with him for once and just relax and watch movies or something.”

“I’m sorry hyung, that really does suck. I noticed that Kihyun hyung has been a little more frustrated than usual, I guess now it makes sense why,” Changkyun replies, sounding sympathetic.

“Uh, you don’t even know the half of it. He woke up last night babbling about derivatives and some other calculus shit. What the hell?! Who does that shit, right?” Hyungwon laughs incredulously.

“Only Kihyun hyung,” Changkyun grins back widely, suddenly imagining a sleepy Hyungwon smacking Kihyun with a pillow and telling him to go back to sleep. 

“Only Kihyun,” Hyungwon agrees, sounding half-fond and half-exasperated. 

“To be honest, I don’t even know for sure how long you guys have been together. Isn’t it like two years, now?” Changkyun asks while he nibbles on the ketchup drenched french fries, quickly glancing down at the table to check if his phone has any new messages. The phone’s notification light remains stubbornly dim. 

“You’re right, it’s about to be two years,” Hyungwon responds. “You know, you don’t have to be so anxious Changkyun-ah.”

Changkyun looks up from sipping on his drink and notices that Hyungwon looks smug for some reason. “Uh, I’m not anxious.” 

Hyungwon snorts and rolls his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement at Changkyun’s obvious lie. “Yeah, sure, that’s why you keep checking your phone compulsively. Trust me, you don’t have to worry. Hoseok is busy because he’s got a ten page research paper to finish and Minhyuk says he’s started picking up extra shifts at the club cause he’s a little strapped for cash. Either way, he’s not ignoring you.”

Changkyun feels his palms start sweating all of a sudden and his face gets hot, but before he can question Hyungwon about the reason he brought up Hoseok, Hyungwon continues speaking. “I’m your best friend, of course I know that there’s something going on between you and Hoseok, you dummy.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Changkyun feebly protests, wiping his damp palms on his denim jeans underneath the table where Hyungwon can’t see.

“I’m not here to grill you on the details,” Hyungwon quickly reassures him before he slowly smirks. “Unless you _want_ to share, in which case, I’m all ears.”

Changkyun sighs and closes his eyes momentarily in weary resignation. “There’s nothing to tell, hyung.”

At Hyungwon’s incredulous stare, Changkyun blushes. “We kissed and—and that’s it. I don't really know what's going on between us. Does this mean we’re dating? I don't know, I'm too afraid to ask. Maybe...maybe he changed his mind and that’s why he’s avoiding me.”

“He’s not avoiding you,” Hyungwon insists through clenched teeth.

“You're probably right,” Changkyun mumbles unconvincingly before he reaches for his soda and takes a sip, looking miserable.

Hyungwon’s lips draw into a tight line of dissatisfaction at the sight. “Fuck this,” Hyungwon curses low under his breath and suddenly stands up, reaching for his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans. 

Changkyun raises his head to look at the older man and the expression on his face makes him freeze for a second, the determined glint in Hyungwon’s eye making him seem almost intimidating.

“I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go pay,” Hyungwon smiles distractedly as he walks to the counter of the restaurant and hands over his card to the cashier, ignoring Changkyun’s indignant squawking behind him. 

When they leave the restaurant, Changkyun can’t help but look dejected at having his lunch paid for once again. 

“Take me out to the movies on Saturday, if you want to pay me back that badly,” Hyungwon relents with a soft sigh and Changkyun nods in response with a small smile on his face.

After a while as they walk down the street in comfortable silence, Hyungwon speaks up again. “Do you want to go to the mall and stare at things that we probably won’t buy?”

Changkyun realizes that it’s probably a distraction tactic, meant to make him focus on anything else but his silent phone. He quickly resolves to stop thinking about Hoseok for tonight, at least long enough to make Hyungwon stop worrying.

“Sure, let’s go,” Changkyun amiably agrees and then stares slack-jawed once Hyungwon starts running ahead of him, trying to race him to the bus stop. It’s a rather mellow run—more like a slow jog, really, since Hyungwon hates exercising and sweating—but it doesn't really matter because he’s got freakishly long legs that give him the advantage anyway. Watching Hyungwon’s retreating back, Changkyun lets out a heartfelt laugh as he hurries to catch up. 

It’s late evening when they finally trudge into their dorm while sharing a bag of gummies. Hyungwon didn’t buy anything at the mall and Changkyun only bought a white rabbit plushie with a soft pink nose that reminds him of a certain silver-blond, not that he’d admit it to anyone else. 

“Minhyuk says that he likes your shirt. It reminds him of a shirt he’s got,” Hyungwon comments while he scrolls through his phone. They’re in the elevator and there’s a couple of other people squeezed in so Changkyun just hums and leans in closer to Hyungwon to see the phone screen, looking at the picture that Hyungwon had uploaded to his instagram of the two of them flashing peace signs at the camera.

“Um, that’s probably because this _is_ his shirt,” Changyun mumbles with a small embarrassed laugh as he reads Minhyuk’s comment. “I forgot to give it back to him.”

The elevator dings and they both step out and start walking towards Changkyun’s room on right side of the hall. Changkyun is stopped short when he spies Hoseok leaning against the wall next to his room, waiting for him. 

“Right on time,” Hyungwon mutters under his breath. “Well, good night, I’ll see you tomorrow, Changkyun-ah. Don’t stay up too late.” Hyungwon smirks as he steals some more gummies from the bag in Changkyun’s hand and pops them in his mouth all at once, walking away towards the opposite end of the hall while stretching his arms above his head and groaning as his back pops. 

Confused, Changkyun watches him walk away for a few seconds before Hoseok reaches for his hand and squeezes it, quickly getting his attention though he has no clue what to say or even what to think about the situation.

“Hyung, I didn’t know you were coming...”

“Hyungwonnie texted me that you were freaking out, so I came to calm you down,” Hoseok murmurs, carefully watching him and monitoring his expression.

“I’m not freaking out,” Changkyun denies through gritted teeth and Hoseok raises an eyebrow in response. After a few seconds staring into Hoseok’s dark eyes, Changkyun exhales in resignation and glances at his closed door. He takes out his keys, fumbling with the doorjamb for a few seconds before he’s finally able to fit the key into the keyhole. They both enter the room and Changkyun closes the door behind him while Hoseok takes in the small room. Changkyun feels irrationally nervous since this is the first time that Hoseok’s seen his room. Seeing his clothes scattered around the room, he lets out a stilted laugh. “I’m sorry, let me just clean this up.” 

Changkyun hurries to pick up the clothes, throwing them into the hamper quickly and starting to make his bed while Hoseok watches him with a small amused smile. When Changkyun starts reaching for the vacuum cleaner in the corner of the room, Hoseok laughs out loud and Changkyun jolts at the sound.

“Relax, you little idiot, it’s just me,” Hoseok says and he walks forward and places his hands on Changkyun’s waist, closing the distance between them to kiss him soundly. 

Almost instantly, the feelings of uncertainty and fear start to fade away and Changkyun tries not to appear too desperate as he leans into Hoseok and clenches his hands tight at his side, fingers twitching with the need to touch the older man.

A few seconds later, Hoseok breaks the kiss and steps back with a regretful expression, eyes blinking slowly. “Let’s watch a movie and hopefully I won’t fall asleep on you.”

“You’re tired,” Changkyun belatedly realizes and Hoseok nods. “I just finished an early shift at the club, I was covering for a co-worker.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you worked today. Are you hungry? I could try to make make something if you want.”

“It’s alright, I’ve already eaten.”

“That's good! Um, please make yourself comfortable, let me just set up the movie.” Changkyun grabs the laptop sitting on the desk and turns around to see Hoseok sitting down on his bed and leaning against the stacked pillows, holding back a yawn. Changkyun bites his lips before he sits down on the bed beside him and quickly sets up netflix, setting down the laptop on the small table next to the bed and turning it to face them.

“Sorry, I don’t have a TV.” 

“S’fine,” Hoseok says with a tired slur. The movie starts playing and Changkyun’s lulled into a false sense of security for all of five minutes before he finds himself picked up and placed on Hoseok’s lap and with false bravado, he grumbles about being manhandled while his heart tries to beat out of his chest.

“Are you really complaining?” Hoseok asks with a mischievous glint in his eyes, noticing the red tint of Changkyun’s cheekbones. Changkyun remains stubbornly silent and Hoseok’s chest rumbles with soft laughter before he presses an open-mouthed kiss on Changkyun’s jugular, softly biting and licking the tender skin there and brushing his lips slowly upwards. Changkyun’s breath stutters when Hoseok lightly sucks on the frantically beating pulse point right underneath his jaw and when he finally reaches Changkyun’s lips, he parts them open with a slick swipe of his tongue across his plump bottom lip. Hoseok traces the shape of Changkyun’s teeth with the tip of his tongue and parts his lips open wider, plunging his tongue deeper into his mouth to lick at the roof of his mouth. Changkyun tangles his fingers into Hoseok’s shirt and clenches his hands shut tight at the sensation, swallowing the mixed saliva pooling in his mouth. Heat spreads across his whole body and pools low in his stomach but the need for air forces Changkyun to pull back and gasp as he takes in deep lungfuls of air, practically starving. Hoseok’s warm hand finds its way underneath his shirt and his smooth palm starts rubbing gentle concentric circles on the small of his back in a comforting manner.

Changkyun breathes in deeply before he leans in to lick into Hoseok’s mouth, who patiently allows him to explore the shape of his lips with slow licks of his tongue. The urgency is not the same, though, and the open mouthed kisses turn chaste at the end as they simply lay still, breathing in each other’s air. Hoseok sighs into his mouth one last time and leans down to place his head on Changkyun’s shoulder, closing his weary eyes and silently resting against him. Changkyun cards his fingers through Hoseok’s silver-blond strands of hair. He can see the black roots of his natural hair and he knows that the older man will probably dye it again in a few days.

“Let’s go to sleep,” Changkyun proposes with a soft smile and Hoseok hums in approval and reluctantly looses his hold on him and allows him to get off his lap. Changkyun reaches over to the laptop and shuts it off, movie long forgotten, and then walks over to his closet and takes out an extra blanket and hands it to Hoseok who lays in bed watching him through half-lidded eyes. Changkyun changes into a loose nightshirt and takes off his pants before he turns off the lights and tentatively slips under the covers with Hoseok.

The bed's too narrow for two people to fit comfortably side by side so he turns to face Hoseok and wraps his arms and legs around him like an octopus while the older man huffs with sleepy laughter. “I like you a lot, Changkyun-ah,” he murmurs with a fond voice. 

“Hyung, I really like you too,” Changkyun whispers. He swallows his nerves and tilts his head up to stare at the older man straight in the eye. “Does this, um, does this mean that we’re dating?” Changkyun mumbles out clumsily, embarrassed by his own daring. Hoseok smiles at his bashfulness before he whispers yes against his lips and kisses him again and Changkyun can only exhale in relief as he clings tighter to Hoseok. 

It feels amazing to lay in bed next to Hoseok once again and soon enough, he feels his eyes slowly drift shut, feeling warmer than ever as he falls asleep. 

The next morning, Hoseok wakes up with a crick in his neck caused from a loose spring in the mattress. “Your bed sucks. I’m not sleeping over here again until you throw out that shitty lump of foam that you call a mattress,” Hoseok groans painfully as they share a breakfast of piping hot ramen while they sit cross legged on the carpeted floor of his room.

Changkyun glares at Hoseok sitting right across from him and reaches over to wrestle the bowl in his hands away, ignoring the indignant complaints as he drinks the rest of the ramen broth in retaliation. “I’m not throwing out my shitty mattress, I’m not made of money, you bastard.”

A few days later, there’s a knock on Changkyun’s door late at night and he opens it curiously it to see Hoseok standing there with one of his own pillows and a hesitant smile on his face. Despite his vehement opposition earlier in the week, Hoseok sleeps over at his dorm room that night, and again a few days later until it starts to become routine.

* * *

“Are you guys dating?” Hakyeon asks with a curious face focused solely on him as he refills their drinks.

Changkyun blinks and stares at Hakyeon but the other man isn’t joking, he’s being completely serious. “No, they’re dating each other,” Changkyun stutters out in slight confusion, staring across the table at Hyungwon and Kihyun. He would’ve thought it’d be clear since Kihyun was currently draped across Hyungwon’s back, thought it wasn’t exactly romantic, seeing as he was currently trying to strangle his boyfriend while Hyungwon wriggled against him, threatening to sue him. 

_“My dad’s a lawyer, you know!”_

_“I know, I’ve met him before you idiot. Tell him I said hello.”_

“Like I said, they’re dating each other…” Changkyun drifts off, looking somewhat apprehensive as Hyungwon continues to make choking noises in the background. 

“Oh...well, threesomes _are_ a thing, Changkyun-ah,” Hakyeon teases and lets out a loud tinkling laugh as he walks away to refill the drinks of another table. Once he’s gone, Kihyun and Hyungwon burst into laughter at Changkyun’s bewildered expression.

“You’ve got the weirdest coworkers,” Hyungwon snickers and Hakyeon laughs from across the restaurant as if he’d overheard him. Changkyun internally debates informing them that they’re weird too but he refrains for the sake of his own health.

A phone call interrupts their conversation and Changkyun glances down at the flashing screen of his phone. “I’ll be right back,” he mumbles and gets up from the table to head outside, walking past the glass windows of the diner and stopping at the alley right next to it.

“Hello, hyung,” he answers with a smile.

“Hi Changkun-ah,” his brother greets. There’s the sound of a door opening and closing as the other person on the line sighs with weariness. 

“Taekyun hyung, are you okay? You sound tired.”

“I am tired, you brat.” Taekyun sighs again and Changkyun leans against the brick wall of the building behind him while he waits for his brother to elaborate. “Bora and I just visited mom and dad for a couple of hours and we just got back home.”

“How are they?” Changkyun asks with a slight smile. “Has dad gotten rid of that hideous garden gnome in the front yard?”

“No, but he did buy about twenty pink flamingoes and made them surround the gnome as if they’re going to beat the shit out of it. He laughs every time he looks at it in the yard, it’s quite hilarious.”

“Charming,” Changkyun giggles. “I’m sure mom’s happy about that.” 

“Who do you think gave him the idea?” Taekyun snickers. After a few seconds, he seems to sober up. “How are you doing in school, Changkyunnie?”

Changkyun hums and plays with the moss growing on the brick wall behind him, idly searching for an answer. He knows Taekyun is going somewhere with this but he’s not sure where. “I’m doing fine, I’m passing all of my classes with an A. The semester is almost over, I only have about three weeks left and I’ll be done with this year.”

“That’s good, I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks, hyung. Is something wrong?”

Taekyun sighs. “Why didn’t you tell me that you needed money? I can understand mom and dad trying to hide the fact that they need help financially, even though I hate it. But you should have told me that you were running low on funds and I would have gladly helped you.”

“Oh,” Changkyun simply answers, suddenly dumbfounded. He knows without a doubt that Taekyun is upset at him but Changkyun doesn’t know what else to say apart from trying to reassure his older brother. “I just didn’t want to bother you, hyung. You’ve got to worry about you and Bora noona, I don’t want to ask for money when you’re trying to save for your wedding. Besides, I found a good job so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“You’re my baby brother Kyun-ah, I’m always going to worry about you,” Taekyun argues. “I just want to know that you’re eating well and that you’re focusing on your studies. I’m not going to tell you to quit your job if you think you can maintain your GPA. I think you’re clever enough to manage both, but I _am_ transferring some money into your account, okay.”

“You don’t have to,” Changkyun insists. “I can handle myself.”

“Don’t argue with me or I’ll sic Bora on you. She’s pissed at you, just letting you know.”

“Fu—I mean, hell,” Changkyun empathically curses, feeling a chill race down his spine at the thought of his angry future sister-in-law and Taekyun laughs at his terror and his near slip-up. 

“Did I tell you what she said to her boss?” A few minutes later while he listens to his brother recount a story about his fiery-tempered fiancée, he hears footsteps near the entrance of the alley. It’s only someone from the business next door taking out the trash. Changkyun checks the time on his phone real quick and curses softly under his breath so that Taekyun can’t hear it.

“Hyung, I’ve got to go! I’m going to the movies with some friends and the movie’s almost starting,” Changkyun explains, and starts walking back inside the diner.

“Ah, I understand. Have fun, Changkyunnie.”

“Thanks, hyung. Say hi to Bora noona for me.” 

* * *

With the threat of exams coming up, Changkyun finds himself studying during his break time at work or when it’s particularly slow. Tonight happens to be one such night, and after scrubbing the sink for lack of things to do, he cracks open one of his textbooks and studies as he leans against an empty counter used for prep. One of the cooks, a quiet college senior named Taekwoon, silently points his finger towards the doors leading to the dining area and Changkyun instantly understands.

“I’m supposed to be working,” he mumbles. Taekwoon shoos him away with one hand while absently stirring a pot and Changkyun huffs and reluctantly heads towards the front of the diner before the older man starts to glare at him. If he had looked back, he would have seen the corner of the older man’s lips curl up the slightest amount, belying his amusement at Changkyun’s recalcitrant attitude. 

The front of the diner is almost empty; there’s only two tables filled and the servers are gossiping as they wipe the tables spotlessly clean and refill condiments and napkin-holders. Changkyun goes to sit down on a booth at the corner of the room, the same one where he’d first sat down for a late dinner with Hyungwon and Kihyun while Minhyuk served them. He can’t help but feel wistful at the reminder and he sighs before he opens one of his textbooks and focuses on studying. 

A little while later, Hakyeon stops at his table. “Do you want a drink?” 

Changkyun looks up and blinks at the smiling man, who happens to be the shift manager. “Nah, I’m alright. I hope you don’t mind that I’m not in the back right now.”

“Of course not, there’s no point in staying back there if there’s no dishes to clean.” Hakyeon ruffles his hair and walks away once he’s called by one of the tables but he later returns to set down a glass of water at Changkyun’s table with a colorful silly straw with swirling loops. They’re meant for kids and Changkyun only laughs when he sees it, thanking Hakyeon as he walks away. 

The peaceful atmosphere only last for so long, and soon other college kids start pouring in, looking bedraggled and tired from doing their own studying, dragging their friends along into booths and commiserating with each other about exam week starting tomorrow. Changkyun closes his book and heads to the back once again, tying his apron on and getting ready to get drenched from washing dishes in front of the sink.

Hours later, he clocks out and takes off his apron and changes into dry clothes in the bathroom. He helps a new waiter named Soonyoung clean his tables as he’s fallen behind from the late night rush while Hakyeon goes around checking to make sure that everything is clean and tidy, and after all the lights have been shut off and the doors of the diner have been locked, they walk outside and wave goodbye to each other as they depart their separate ways.

“Changkyun-ah,” someone says and Changkyun spins around at the sound of the familiar voice. He’s surprised to see Hoseok waiting for him, leaning against the brick wall of the diner. Hakyeon and Taekwoon turn around at the voice, just as surprised as he is, but they relax once they recognize who it is. 

“Bye guys,” Hakyeon says with a large smile on his face as he links arms with Taekwoon and walks away while the older man tries to push him away with no success, probably due to Hakyeon’s death grip on his arm. 

“Hyung, what are you doing here?” Changkyun asks, staring at Hoseok in confusion. 

“Minhyuk says we’re out of milk and eggs so I thought I’d be nice and buy some groceries.”

“At this time of night?” Changkyun raises an eyebrow in disbelief but Hoseok simply shrugs and walks forward, stretching slightly as he raises his arms in the air. His shirt rides up and exposes the skin of his toned stomach and Changkyun walks forward to tug down his shirt, grumbling about indecent exposure despite the fact that it’s dark outside and nobody else is paying attention. Hoseok simply laughs as he leads the way to the store, a couple of blocks away from the diner while Changkyun tries to match his pace with his sore legs. Once Hoseok notices how tired he is, he starts to walk extra slow on purpose as they continue talking about their plans for the summer. 

After classes end, Changkyun’s planning to spend one week relaxing from all of the stress of finals before he packs up and visits his family for a few weeks. Taekyun had talked about convincing their parents into visiting Jeju-do for a few days during the summer and Changkyun’s looking forward to it. Hoseok’s mom lives close enough that he can visit her regularly every couple of weeks, so he plans to keep doing the same thing and visiting her and her cafe across town in between working his job and having fun with their friends. 

When they finally get to the grocery store, conveniently open twenty-four hours, Changkyun grabs a cart though Hoseok says they don’t need one. 

“I’m not going to buy a lot of things,” Hoseok insists and Changkyun simply hums as he follows behind the older man while he browses through the shelves of the grocery store. Naturally, he stops in front of the ramen section first and Changkyun simply laughs as he watches him empty out a whole row of instant ramen, pushing it all into the cart and grumbling when a few packages fall down on the floor.

“I told you we’d need the cart,” Changkyun teases him as he leans down and helps him pick up the bright colored ramen packages. 

“We really don’t, I can carry everything in my hands,” Hoseok grumbles but he still takes the cart away from him and starts steering it towards another aisle. 

“No you can’t,” Changkyun snorts. “Just because you have muscles doesn’t mean you have the capacity to carry all of those ramen packages in your arms—they won't fit.”

“You wanna bet?” Hoseok smirks and Changkyun pretends to think about it momentarily, hand stroking his chin in thought. 

“Uh, fuck yeah,” Changkyun agrees less than a second later. “There’s no way you can carry over thirty—no, forty packages of ramen all at once,” he adds as he takes a cursory glance at the cart.

“You’re going to regret it,” Hoseok warns, stretching his arms and getting ready for the task with an entirely too serious expression. He looks down at the cart and hums thoughtfully and just when he starts bending down with his arms outstretched, he quickly turns around and picks up Changkyun instead, wrapping his arms around his waist and lifting him up off the ground. Changkyun laughs in surprise and wraps his arms around his Hoseok’s neck to get a better grip.

“Hyung! Put me down.”

Hoseok mocks Changkyun’s previous action and pretends to think about it, frowning slightly and wrinkling his nose in thought. “Nah, I don’t feel like it,” he retorts, looking smug as he stares up at Changkyun. 

“Hyung! What if somebody sees us?” Changkyun whines, legs tightening around the older man’s waist as he feels himself slide down the slightest amount. 

“Let them,” Hoseok answers and he tilts his head up for a kiss and Changkyun’s lips quirk into a stupid smile before he leans down to indulge him. 

Of course, it just so happens that he hears a loud cough less than a minute later and Changkyun breaks the kiss and turns to look at the source of the sound so fast that he nearly gets whiplash. A few feet away, Taekwoon watches them with a curiously blank expression on his face. Changkyun startles at seeing the older man (didn’t he go the opposite way earlier? And with Hakyeon?? Where did the older man go???).

“Taekwoon h-hyung,” Changkyun stammers out in embarrassment and Taekwoon blinks.

“Can you please move from in front of the cat food? I need to grab a few cans and N will be extremely displeased if I don’t buy his favorite brand,” Taekwoon monotones, entirely serious.

Taekwoon has a cat named N? Changkyun shakes his head in disorientation at the same time that he realizes that he’s still got his legs wrapped around Hoseok. He curses under his breath and Hoseok laughs as he reluctantly puts him down on the ground once again, looking amused by the whole episode. 

Hoseok makes a show of stepping away from the cat food and extends a hand regally towards the large selection of canned food. 

“Here you go,” Hoseok says with a teasing grin. ”Personally, I recommend Fancy Feast.”

“Thanks, Hoseok-ah, but N only likes Purina,” Taekwoon mumbles quietly.

“Oh! He’s a pampered cat, huh?” Hoseok responds with an interested expression and Taekwoon shrugs. 

“By the way, where is Hakyeon? Wasn’t he with you earlier?” Hoseok asks curiously as he watches Taekwoon pick up a few cans of cat food, checking the state of the cans to make sure they’re not dented.

“He’s gone,” Taekwoon answers. 

“Gone, or like, _gone gone?_ ” Hoseok asks with a small smirk and Taekwoon glances up and stares at Hoseok with the same blank expression from earlier.

“Oh my fucking god, shut up!” Changkyun groans under his breath and quickly reaches for Hoseok’s hand, clutching it tight. “Bye, Taekwoon hyung, see you tomorrow!” Changkyun frantically waves as he drags Hoseok away from the aisle. 

Taekwoon waves back half-heartedly but as soon as they both leave the aisle, he chuckles underneath his breath, not that either of them get to see it.

When Changkyun has finally managed to drag Hoseok away to another aisle, far, far, away from Taekwoon, he turns around to glare. “Hyung! I can’t believe you asked him that,” he whines as he watches Hoseok reaching for a box of cereal from one of the top shelves. 

“What? It was a good question,” Hoseok defends himself with a small pout. “Doesn't Taekwoon just look like he’s going to murder Hakyeon one of these days? He’d probably feed the body to his cat and nobody would ever know.”

“You're awful,” Changkyun says as he tries hard not to laugh, grabbing another box of cereal for himself. “Taekwoon would never do that.”

“Fine, don’t believe me, maknae. We’ll see if Hakyeon is alive tomorrow or not,” Hoseok responds with a twisted grin.

They grab a few more things before they finally head to the register and Hoseok insists on paying for both of their stuff. Changkyun doesn't fight him on the matter purely because he doesn't want make a big deal about it in front of the bored looking cashier. Hoseok seems to notice his reluctance to make a scene and he smiles smugly to himself and Changkyun groans inwardly and resolves to pay the older man back later.

Once Hoseok’s done paying, they both start walking back towards the bus stop while Hoseok struggles to grab his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans with all of the grocery bags in his hands. When he finally accomplishes that task, he folds his receipt enough times until it’s small enough to fit into his wallet. 

Changkyun can’t help but notice that the older man has a handful of other receipts in his wallet and he stares as he thinks back to the time they went out to eat pizza and Hoseok had grabbed the receipt and stuffed it into his pants. Did he still have that receipt, too?

Noticing Changkyun’s curious gaze, Hoseok blows out a loud sigh. “I look like a crazy person, don’t I?”

“Only slightly,” Changkyun responds honestly. “Why do you save your receipts? Do you like to keep track of the money you spend?”

Hoseok laughs and shakes his head in response. “No, I pay with my card most of the time so I can always check my bank account online and keep track of it. I don’t know why I save my receipts… I guess because my mom used to save hers all the time and I got into the habit of doing the same thing.”

“Oh,” Changkyun responds with a slight smile. “So it’s just a habit?”

“Yeah,” Hoseok says as he stares into his wallet. Abruptly, he takes all of the receipts out and throws them away into a nearby trash can. “It was about time to clean out my wallet, anyway.”

Changkyun can’t help the sense of relief that overwhelms him when he realizes that Hoseok hadn’t been interested in that waitress. He feels so stupid for being jealous over something so trivial but it doesn’t matter anymore. He glances sideways at Hoseok and smiles to himself, feeling happy all of a sudden.

“Why are you smiling about?” Hoseok asks all of a sudden and Changkyun flushes slightly at being caught staring.

“Nothing,” Changkyun mumbles, looking away to stare at his surroundings instead. The night is already dark but Changkyun notices a few people out and about, slightly more than he considered normal, not to mention a guy carrying a huge telescope in his hands as he walks past them. 

“What the hell’s going on?” Changkyun asks and Hoseok looks up from adjusting his grip on the plastic bags in his hands. The silver-blond looks around them briefly before he seems to realize what Changkyun’s talking about.

“Oh, you don’t know? There’s a meteor shower going on tonight.” He checks his watch quickly and frowns. “In about an hour, actually, at least that’s what the news was talking about this morning.”

Changkyun looks up at the sky as if he can already see it, but the sky is the same shade of inky blue as every other night. “I’ve never seen one,” Changkyun admits. “I tried to watch a meteor shower once before with my older brother and my dad, but we both fell asleep before it happened and my dad felt bad waking us up.”

“Really? Hmm, I’ve seen them a couple of times, back when I was younger. At the beach, everything is darker at night so the stars are easier to see.”

Changkyun sighs wistfully as he stares up at the sky. “I wanted to be an astrologist when I was kid. I’ve always liked the stars.”

“That’s cute,” Hoseok smiles. “When I as a kid, I wanted to be a veterinarian but then I realized that I had to help other animals apart from cats and dogs. Once, when I was in grade school, I found a tiny garden snake in the playground and I was so scared that I cried and ran all the way home.” 

Changkyun bursts into loud laughter at the mental picture of a small Hoseok shrieking at the sight of a small, defenseless baby snake. Hoseok bumps his hip in retaliation but Changkyun hardly notices as leans into the older man and smiles. “That’s so fucking cute,” Changkyun gushes. “Do you have a picture of you when you were a kid? I want to see.”

“I’ll see if I can find one later,” Hoseok tells him, scratching at his nose slightly and looking away from Changkyun. The tips of Hoseok’s ears are red and Changkyun wonders why when he suddenly notices that there’s a bus stopped ahead of them, just down the road

“Hyung, the bus!” Changkyun yells and Hoseok turns to look at him in confusion before the words seem catch up to him. With a shared glance of surprise, they both break into a run and arrive just in time to stop the door from closing. With a loud sigh of relief, Changkyun and Hoseok enter the bus and sit next to each other while they set down the groceries on an empty seat next to them. 

“I’m glad we made it,” Changkyun pants with exhaustion as he flexes his hands, sore from carrying the heavy grocery bags. Hoseok hums in agreement and reaches for one of his hands and begin to rubs the palm of it with the pads of his fingers, trying to make it stop aching. Changkyun mumbles that it’s fine and Hoseok simply holds his hand as he stares out the window of the bus with a contemplative gaze.

Once they exit the bus, they walk towards Hoseok’s apartment complex. “Hey, Changkyun-ah, do you want to watch the meteor shower?” Hoseok abruptly asks as he turns to look at him, standing still in the lobby of the building.

Changkyun adjusts the bags in his hands and nibbles on his bottom lip. “I would love to, but I think it’d be hard to see it from the apartment, don’t you think?”

“That’s not a problem,” Hoseok smiles, a secretive look in his eyes. He leads them to the elevator and when they’re both inside, he presses the number to the highest floor. They go all the way up, all twenty three floors and when they arrive at the last floor, they both get out though Changkyun looks up and down the hall with a dubious glance.

“Stop looking like we’re going to rob this place or something,” Hoseok chuckles as he walks ahead confidently and stops in front of a nondescript door at the end of the hall. Changkyun’s afraid that an alarm will ring when Hoseok opens the door with a forceful push but nothing happens apart from the hinges creaking loudly in protest. Hoseok opens the door wider and starts walking up the staircase leading up and Changkyun follows after the older man, his legs protesting the exercise after a long evening of work. He lags behind Hoseok but when he finally arrives at the destination, it’s to see Hoseok holding open another door that leads out into the wide open roof of the building. Changkyun walks through the exit and stares in amazement as he looks across the buildings spread out around them and the twinkling lights from the shops down below, feeling a breeze tousling his hair as it whistles by. The door closes behind them with a loud clang and Changkyun startles and whips around to look behind him.

“If the door is locked and we’re stuck here, I’m going to kill you,” Changkyun threatens feebly, turning to stare at the older man.

“I look forward to it,” Hoseok says before he chuckles once again. “We _are_ actually allowed to visit the roof, you know, we’re not doing anything wrong. Now come on, let’s get comfortable. We’ve got about twenty or so minutes before the meteor shower starts.”

“Oh fuck, the groceries,” Changkyun belatedly realizes and Hoseok waves him off. 

“Don’t worry about it, it’s okay.” Changkyun still looks indecisive but Hoseok convinces him to set down the bags, reassuring him that the milk won’t spoil. There’s nothing to sit on so they both sit down cross legged on the concrete ground and although it’s grimy and dusty, neither of them can find it in themselves to care. 

While they wait for the meteor shower, Hoseok takes in the fresh night air and convinces him to take a picture together. Changkyun feels shy in front of the camera and quickly tries to fix his frizzy hair, resisting the urge to hide as Hoseok turns on the front facing camera and places an arm around his shoulder, leaning in close to squeeze their cheeks together and snapping a picture.

“I look like such a fucking mess,” Changkyun mumbles under his breath, feeling Hoseok’s breath against the shell of his ear.

“Yeah, but you’re a cute mess,” Hoseok agrees, leaning forward to try to tame his stray fly-away hairs, even though the endeavour is useless with the wind blowing continually. 

“Hyung, that’s so cheesy. You sound like you belong in a rom com,” Changkyun mumbles out and Hoseok just grins and leans close to kiss him. A few moments later, he leans back after having stolen his breath once again and stares intensely into his face as he takes in Changkyun’s reddened complexion. He grazes his fingertips against a flushed cheek, feeling the warm skin beneath his touch. 

“You want me to be serious then?” Hoseok whispers with a husky voice and Changkyun hardly gets the chance to ask what he means by that before Hoseok presses another warm kiss against his mouth and starts to suck and nibble on his bottom lip, playing with the soft flesh until it’s red and plump. His hands stray below, hands skimming underneath his shirt and exploring his bare hip bones, pulling him closer against his body until Changkyun’s practically sitting on his lap.

After the long and languid kiss, Changkyun doesn’t know what to say, but he breathes out heavily and stares back with heat pooling low in his stomach, clenching his hands into Hoseok’s shirt and feeling dizzy. Hoseok stares intensely into his eyes for a few muted seconds before he smirks all of a sudden and his smouldering gaze instantly disappears as if it was never there in the first place. 

“There, is that serious enough? Did I make your heart flutter?” Hoseok drawls out with a half-lidded, smug stare. 

Dazed by the change of expression, Changkyun stares at the older man until he slowly comes to the realization that he’s just been played and he growls before he pushes Hoseok’s shoulder and scrambles to get off his lap.

“Ah, don’t be like that Changkyun-ah, I was just teasing you,” Hoseok rumbles in amusement, hand reaching for his own and trying to pull him back down.

“Don’t play me like that, bastard!” Changkyun growls as he shakes off Hoseok’s hand, turning around and walking a few feet away. He huffs in disbelief as he stares at the pretty lights down below and he inwardly feels stupid for falling for Hoseok’s teasing. He doesn’t even know why he’s so angry, but it must be because Hoseok’s the first person he’s kissed, first person he’s touched in a romantic sense, and ultimately, he feels dejected at the fact that Hoseok can play him like a fiddle any time wants. Even if the older man had just been teasing him, Changkyun still feels stupid for falling for his tricks so easily. 

“Changkyun-ah, I was just teasing,” Hoseok murmurs quietly as he comes to stand behind him, softly placing his arms around him as if he was afraid Changkyun would refuse the contact. Changkyun’s so stupid that he doesn’t—in fact, he turns around and smacks Hoseok’s solid chest in revenge before he groans and hides his face in the crook of Hoseok’s neck. 

“Hyung, you can be such an asshole sometimes,” Changkyun says wearily and Hoseok hugs him tighter in response, kissing the crown of his head and ruffling the wild strands of his hair.

“I know, baby. I’m sorry.” 

Changkyun tries to stay mad but it’s hard to when Hoseok’s body is so warm and he keeps pressing soft kisses against his forehead in apology. Although the wind is starting to get stronger as the night wears on, Hoseok’s body is shielding him from the northern wind, and it feels absolutely amazing, as much as he hates to admit it. 

Ignoring the way his hands shake—from the cold, or from nerves, or a mix of the two, probably—Changkyun leans up and tentatively places his hands on Hoseok’s face, forcing the older man to look straight at him. “Don’t be mean, hyung. You know I really like you,” he whispers sincerely.

Hoseok reaches for one of Changkyun’s hands to cradle it within his own before he pecks a soft kiss on the center of his palm. “I know you do. You always blush around me, it’s kind of hard not to notice.”

“No, I don’t,” Changkyun denies with a frown and Hoseok’s eyes glitter with fond amusement.

“You did in the beginning,” Hoseok says with a sly grin. “You used to get so flustered whenever we were by ourselves for whatever reason.”

“I don’t recall,” Changkyun deadpans and Hoseok smiles in response, opening his mouth to respond. He cuts himself off as he looks up all of a sudden.

“The meteor shower is starting, Changkyun-ah.” 

Changkyun looks up and notices a faint glimmer of light that streaks across the sky followed by another one only seconds after. He’s instantly transfixed by the sight and Hoseok tugs at his hand until Changkyun sits down on the floor next to him and lays down on the concrete ground once again flat on his back. The streaks of light are all different as they cut across the night sky and start to fade into the earth’s atmosphere. Although the meteor shower is hard to see over the faint haze of smog perpetually settled into the city and it’s hard to focus over the sounds of a car alarm beeping in the distance, the moment still feels perfect in all of its imperfect glory. 

It ends way too soon, but they continue to lay on the ground and Changkyun points out a few constellations that he recognizes, fumbling with trying to remember the rest.

“I don’t think that’s Ursa Minor, I think it’s that over there,” Hoseok points out and Changkyun follows his finger to the cluster of stars as Hoseok traces out the constellation. 

“Oh,” Changkyun mumbles in embarrassment. Hoseok laughs and Changkyun turns sideways and watches as the older man holds his phone above his head and swivels it around as the interface of the phone names the constellations for him.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Changkyun accuses indignantly.

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?” Hoseok challenges, eyebrow cocked. The next second, he gets to his feet and quickly snatches half the groceries before he makes a run for it and Changkyun narrows his eyes before he springs up from the ground and follows, grabbing the rest of the grocery bags.

“Come back here so I can kill you and feed you to Taekwoon hyung’s cat!” Changkyun threatens and Hoseok’s giggling echos around the staircase.

“Hell no, I’m too pretty to die,” Hoseok yells happily as he thunders down the stairs and Changkyun growls as he follows behind him, trying to fight back a large smile. He’s completely exhausted, and his hair is a mess and he’d dirty all over from laying on the ground, but he also feels extremely alive at this minute as he chases after his boyfriend. Hoseok beats him to the elevator but when the doors start to close on his smirking visage, he puts his foot in between the metal doors at the last second, forcing them to stop and re-open. Changkyun gladly enters the elevator and practically collapses against one of the reflective silver walls while he tries to catch his breath. When they finally arrive at the door of the apartment and Hoseok knocks on the door to be let in, Changkyun feels ready to keel over.

Hyunwoo answers the door and after quickly taking in their disheveled appearance and the grocery bags weighing down their arms, he quickly reaches for the bags in Changkyun’s hands and heads for the kitchen.

“Thanks hyung,” Changkyun mumbles, following after the taller man as they walk further inside the apartment. It’s loud and before he can enter the kitchen, he can already hear the sound of Minhyuk laughing and Jooheon yelling. There’s the sound of a crash and several things falling, a mild hush following, before the sound resumes again in a louder pitch.

“Ah, game night. How delightful,” Hoseok regales with a wide grin as he strolls into the kitchen. “How’s it going, Jooheon-ah?”

Jooheon is currently crouched on top of the table, staring into Minhyuk’s eyes through his own slitted stare, as if trying to intimidate the blond man into submission or something equally ridiculous. “Piss off, hyung, I’m trying to win here and I don’t need any unnecessary distractions.”

Whatever it is he’s trying to do, it doesn’t seem to work because less than a minute later, Minhyuk lets out a bright and contagious laugh. “Uno!” Minhyuk crows happily and throws a solitary card across the room, raising his hands in victory while Jooheon practically hisses in anger. “Take that, sucker! I win! You owe me twenty lollipops _and_ a blowjob and you can’t back out on the blowjob!” 

Jooheon yells inhumanely as he pulls on the strands of his hair in frustration. 

“Why does he sound like a cat in heat?” Changkyun questions underneath his breath and both Hoseok and Hyunwoo choke, close enough to hear what he said. 

“Why did I even agree to that bet? Fuck, I _am_ a sucker,” Jooheon groans, completely unaware of Changkyun’s earlier comment. 

“You’re going to be sucking on _something_ ,” Minhyuk cackles without mercy as he starts undoing his belt. “We’ve played this a hundred times and I always win, I don’t know why you keep challenging me, you dumbass. How about you, Changkyun-ah? Do you want to play?” Minhyuk asks with a carefree smile as he unzips his pants and Changkyun snorts and furiously shakes his head. 

“Hell no, I’m not about to suck anybody’s dick.” He pretends not to notice Hoseok’s wilting posture out of the corner of his eye.

“Your loss,” Minhyuk answers, but he’s stopped from actually removing his dick from his jeans as Hyunwoo walks forward and begins tucking him away again and pulling his zipper upwards, ignoring the blond’s indignant protests as well as Jooheon’s equally reluctant protests about not being a quitter.

“No sucking dick right before finals. It’s bad luck, or something,” Hyunwoo gently admonishes as he turns around to straighten up Jooheon’s messily ruffled bangs from when he’d dragged his hands through his hair in a state of absolute misery just seconds before.

“You’re the best dad in the world!” Jooheon shouts as he jumps into Hyunwoo’s arms and clings to him like a monkey, looking overjoyed. “This is like, the twentieth time you’ve saved me from one of Minhyuk’s ridiculous bets. It’s like your superpower,” Jooheon muses in wonder and he hiccups in the next second, making Minhyuk stop sulking just long enough to make fun of him. 

“Aww, are you okay, Jooheonie? My poor loser baby,” Minhyuk coos, opening his arms wide and Jooheon instantly staggers forward to rest his head against Minhyuk’s shoulder while the older man rubs his back in consolation. “It’s okay, you can always lose the game next time and I'll make sure Hyunwoo’s not around so I can actually claim my winnings.”

“Thanks hyung, that’s so sweet of you and definitely not underhanded at all,” Jooheon giggles into the crook of his neck, swaying slightly as if he was dizzy. Minhyuk continues consoling him while he reaches for a full cup on the table and guzzles it down in one swallow. Noticing the red cup, Changkyun instantly understands what’s going on. 

“Okay, I just realized that they’re both drunk as fuck,” Changkyun pipes up and Hoseok turns to look at him and shakes his head back and forth as if telling him to shut up, stifling a laugh when Jooheon and Minhyuk both turn to look at the youngest in utter surprise.

“We’re not drunk, Changkyun-ah.” Minhyuk informs him with a smile.

“What makes you think that?” Jooheon asks with a puzzled frown at the same time, swaying on his feet.

Changkyun’s eye twitches involuntarily. “How silly of me, of course you’re not drunk. This is just a regular Sunday night and it’s totally not weird at all,” Changkyun responds as he discreetly punches Hoseok’s side while the older man continues to laugh.

“We always have game night twice a month,” Hyunwoo contributes as he pulls out a platter of chips and offers some to Changkyun. Looking around the messy kitchen, spotting a bowl of spaghetti splattered on the ground next to a plastic tiara with a feather boa hanging from the ceiling fan, Changkyun shrugs and walks forward to take one of the seats.

“Deal,” he commands regally and Hoseok sits down and takes the deck from the center of the table and shuffles it, smiling at him from across the table while Jooheon and Minhyuk start making ridiculous bets once again which Hyunwoo emphatically stays out of, watching the troublesome scene unfold with the patience of a saint while he munches on his chips. 

They actually forget to put away the groceries that night so the milk spoils and the next morning, Minhyuk cries as he’s forced to eat his cereal without milk right before one of his big exams. Needless to say, finals week have finally arrived. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated story description - I thought the old one was a little outdated... Tell me what you think about this chapter, it was a bitch to edit T_T Also, fair warning - next chapter, shit hits the fan since there's no true story without a little drama.
> 
> On a separate note, I actually have a document with random paragraphs that got cut or replaced from the story (that somehow got to be around 10k long, what the hell). Here's two (short) scenes from this chapter and my explanations for cutting them out:
> 
> xxxxx
> 
> “Oh come on, we’ll stop teasing you. Sit down and finish your lunch,” Kihyun responds, returning the bag of chips to Jooheon’s tray.
> 
> Jooheon picks up the empty bag and shakes it, laughing with disbelief at Kihyun’s audacity. “Nah, I actually do have to leave, I’ve got something to do.”
> 
> “You mean stalking Gunhee?” Hoseok interrupts, smacking Changkyun’s hand as he reaches for another fry.
> 
> Changkyun winces in pain and Hoseok abruptly apologizes, reaching for a handful of fries and stuffing them into Changkyun’s mouth while he tries to ignore Kihyun and Hyungwon’s combined glare.
> 
>  
> 
> _{This got cut because I didn't actually think Hoseok would stop Changkyun from stealing his food, especially after the idiot went and starved himself last chapter... but also, aww, protective Kihyungwon ♥}_
> 
>    
> xxxxx
> 
> “Kihyun-ah, you’re smiling, did something good happen?” Hoseok questions as he spoons rice into his mouth.
> 
> Kihyun glares at Hoseok, looking offended for some reason. “Do I need to have a reason for being happy?”
> 
> “Yes,” Hoseok fires back, lips quirking in amusement.
> 
> “Jackson fell and tripped in the cafeteria,” Jooheon explains, laughing at the sour face that Kihyun makes when he reveals the reason behind his good mood.
> 
> “You’re making me look like an asshole, Jooheonie,” Kihyun gripes and reaches for Jooheon’s bag of chips, taking a handful at a time and going back for more.
> 
> “You are one,” Hoseok and Hyungwon say at the same time while Changkyun smothers his laughter at the exchange.
> 
> “Rude,” Kihyun answers with an indignant frown. Jooheon narrows his eyes and stares at Kihyun expectantly while shaking his empty bag of chips, as if waiting for something. A few minutes later, he walks away with money in his hand after expertly extorting Kihyun out of it.
> 
> “The kid is learning,” Kihyun grumbles, putting away his wallet, and Hyungwon’s eyes crinkle as he laughs at his boyfriend’s predicament.
> 
>  
> 
> _{This part got cut cause it didn't quite seem to fit... At the same time, it makes me laugh cause Jooheon will forever be Kihyun's most troublesome adopted child lol}_


	7. Chapter 7

“Hyung, I think I got question number twelve wrong. What did you get?” Jooheon asks as he sits down at their usual table in the quad. It’s lunch time and everyone is gathering around the wooden table with their lunch trays though Minhyuk and Hoseok are running late.

“X equals negative eleven?” Hyungwon answers confidently while sitting down next to Changkyun. 

“I got false... As in...I thought it was a true or false question…”

“You’re fucked,” Hyungwon says with a deceptively flat voice, though as soon as Jooheon whines in frustration, he bursts out into laughter. “We don’t even have the same class, idiot.” 

Jooheon stares at him blankly for a few seconds, before he frowns. “Oh yeah, I forgot.”

“Both of you shut the fuck up,” Kihyun groans as he sits down, dropping his head forward until it hits the table with a resounding thump. “I don’t want to hear about exams. In fact, I’ll kill the next idiot who even _thinks_ about exams.”

Changkyun audibly gulps from across the table and reaches for his drink quickly, slurping down his soda and resolutely avoiding Kihyun’s gaze while trying not to think about the last question of the morning’s test that had left him stumped.

As if he can read his mind, Kihyun raises his head and sends him a gummy smile. “Not you, Changkyun-ah, you’re an angel and I’m thrilled you’re here.”

Everyone laughs at Changkyun’s reddening ears as he tries not to flush at the compliment. Hyungwon leans in and rests his head on Changkyun’s shoulder, sulking slightly as he glares at Kihyun sitting across from them. “Why are you so biased towards the maknae, Kihyun-ah? You’re not even that nice to me and we’re _actually dating_.”

“You stole the covers from me again last night, you _demon_ ,for the _nth_ fucking time.”

“I don’t recall,” Hyungwon drawls with a lazy air of carelessness.

“Oh, I’m _sure_ you don’t, since you sleep like the dead,” Kihyun mutters darkly. “It’s kind of creepy, actually.”

Hyungwon grumbles against Changkyun’s shoulder, too faint for anybody to hear. “Ah, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, hyung,” Changkyun intervenes. “Kihyun’s just being nice because I bought him a cup of coffee this morning. He’ll go back to hating me like he hates everyone else soon enough.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Changkyun,” Kihyun interrupts. “I love you because you’re sweet, and nice, and because you’re totally gonna let me borrow your notes for Lit tomorrow, right?”

Changkyun laughs in amusement as Hyungwon rolls his eyes beside him. “Of course you can borrow my notes, hyung.”

“You could’ve asked to borrow my notes,” Hyungwon intones resentfully.

“You’re not even taking the class, idiot.” Kihyun smiles in a not so nice manner. “Either way the answer would still be no, since I actually want to pass the class.”

Before Hyungwon has a chance to respond, Minhyuk appears out of nowhere and rests his chin on top of Hyungwon’s head as he pants heavily, trying to catch his breath. “Ughhh, I’m tired.”

“You shouldn’t have run here, then,” Hyunwoo wisely says as he stretches out a hand with a tater tot. Minhyuk gladly eats it and moans in delight at the taste as he wraps his arms around Hyungwon’s neck and continues hugging him.

“Please get off of me if you’re going to be making those sounds. Bam Bam and Yugyeom are raising their eyebrows at us suggestively and I don’t like it,” Hyungwon interrupts, looking disturbed. Everyone turns to look at the table next to theirs to watch the spectacle, watching Mark put down his head in embarrassment while Jinyoung reprimands the maknae line, everybody else at the table laughing at Bam Bam and Yugyeom’s tactics as they move from suggestive winking to making lewd moaning noises as they pretend to make out with each other while Jackson spurs them on and cheers.

Minhyuk waves at his friends with a bright smile regardless of their teasing and continues to cling to Hyungwon anyway which he endures with a small sigh. “Where’s Hoseok?” Hyungwon questions.

Changkyun’s glad that he doesn’t have to ask. Although he’s dating Hoseok now, he doesn’t know how to bring up the subject to his friends and he feels weird asking about Hoseok’s whereabouts when he never used to do that before.

“Getting lunch from the cafeteria,” Minhyuk responds. He grudgingly sits down a few minutes later, tired from standing up although Hyungwon had been holding up most of his weight. He sits next to Hyunwoo and starts to eat his food without permission, not that Hyunwoo complains. 

When Hoseok finally arrives, they’ve mostly finished with their own lunch and he sits down on the empty spot next to Kihyun as everyone starts talking about what to do to celebrate. They’ve got one more day of exams before they’re completely done for the semester and everyone’s undeniably excited, except for Kihyun who’s too stressed about the test tomorrow to think about anything else.

“You need to relax,” Hyungwon mumbles to his boyfriend when there’s a lull in the conversation and a second later, Hoseok suddenly groans and leans away from Kihyun, trying to distance himself.

“Yah! Don’t pinch my thigh, Kihyun-ah, I’m not your stress reliever,” Hoseok complains with a slight chuckle. 

“Well, I can’t reach over and pinch Hyungwon so you’ll have to do,” Kihyun grunts out. 

Hyungwon mutters _thank god_ under his breath, but a second later, he yelps in pain as Kihyun stomps on his foot underneath the table. Changkyun hisses in sympathy as he watches his best friend lift up his right foot while he tries to massage his abused toes through the thick material of the sneaker while muttering obscenities too low for anybody to hear. 

“Nevermind, I took care of the problem,” Kihyun says with a cruel smile. 

Hyungwon opens his mouth as if he’s going to say something before he shuts it abruptly once again and looks away, avoiding Kihyun’s gaze. Changkyun can’t help but feel that something weird is going on, or at least he thinks so as he glimpses Hyungwon’s suddenly tight expression. He briefly debates asking him what’s wrong but he has a gut feeling that he shouldn’t ask in front of everybody else. He settles for opening his bag of cookies and offering them to Hyungwon, who takes one with a small smile. He twists the oreo cookie in half to separate the cream and eats it first before he eats the rest of the cookie. Changkyun tries to stifle his laughter at the weird quirk but Hyungwon elbows him as if he can tell what he’s thinking anyway. 

“I don’t really care what we do this weekend, as long as we do _something_ ,” Jooheon pipes up with a distracted voice as he stares hard at someone walking through the quad. He lifts up his spoon to swallow a bite of pudding but he misses his mouth and hits his cheek instead, blinking owlishly once he realizes what he’s done. Everyone laughs at his expression but Minhyuk simply huffs as he observes the brunet. 

“Oh my fucking god, you still haven’t asked out Gunhee, have you?” Minhyuk asks with a miffed expression. He reaches over to swat Jooheon over the back of the head. “You’re absolutely hopeless, Jooheon-ah.”

“I don’t appreciate your input, hyung,” Jooheon hisses as he rubs the back of his head. “I can handle my affairs just fine.”

“No, you really can’t. You can’t even answer your phone without freaking out for five minutes first,” Minhyuk scoffs with a note of condescension as he reaches over to pat Jooheon’s face. Jooheon’s affection for the blond is obvious in the way that he doesn’t immediately bat away the slender hand on his cheek and instead allows the action with a resigned scowl on his face. 

During the whole exchange, Changkyun stays quiet and slinks down in his seat as if to avoid drawing everybody’s attention over the fact that he does the exact same thing. Hyungwon’s mouth quirks in obvious amusement but he doesn’t draw attention to the action, only reaches for another cookie which Changkyun gladly offers.

“I just hate answering the phone. I mean, what am I supposed to say?” Jooheon sniffs, looking away with a slightly flushed face.

“How about hello, for starters?” Kihyun pipes up with obvious exasperation, joining the inquisition.

“—Okay, moving on,” Hoseok shrewdly interrupts, rubbing at his temple as if to ward away a headache. “There’s going to be a shit ton of parties all over campus this weekend, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a decent one.”

Minhyuk, surprisingly, stays quiet though that might have something to do with his cheeks stuffed full of food which he keeps stealing from Hyunwoo. Even if he wanted to talk, he couldn’t without choking on the tater tots in his mouth. 

“You guys want to come to our party?” Jackson suddenly hollers from the next table over, looking entirely too enthusiastic. He doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he was listening in to their conversation, though nobody really cares since they’re in public and it was hard not to hear what the people around them were saying.

“No,” Kihyun growls. Everyone laughs as if it was joke but Kihyun’s being entirely serious. It’s no secret that Kihyun holds a grudge against the blond, though Jackson always seemed to conveniently forget about it or maybe he was too dense to notice. 

“Why are you always so mean to me?” Jackson whines and Kihyun snorts as he starts tearing the napkin in his hands into small pieces, a noticeable sign of his aggravation. “Maybe because you keep causing trouble for me, Wang.”

Jackson seems incredulous at the accusation. “What? No, I don’t!”

“Setting off the fire alarm, does that ring any bells?” Kihyun grits out.

“That only happened one time,” Jackson defends with bravado. 

“ _Four times, actually!_ ” Kihyun growls out, sounding more pissed by the second, clutching the ripped napkin in his hands with a white-knuckled grip.

Jackson doesn’t know the meaning of danger, so he continues talking anyway despite the vein in Kihyun’s forehead visibly throbbing. “Well, Changkyun did it too!”

Changkyun lifts his head and blinks owlishly at having gathered everyone’s attention. He opens his mouth but he can’t quite find anything to say in his defense because Jackson is right, for once. Changkyun _had_ set off the alarm earlier in the year even if it was just an accident. Still, the fact that everyone is staring at him makes him extremely uncomfortable. As if realizing this, Kihyun stands up and tries to walk over to the other table to do god knows what but luckily, Hoseok stops him just in time, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and forcing him to sit down once again.

“Calm down, Kihyun-ah,” Hoseok mumbles as the shorter male struggles but he can’t shake free of Hoseok’s strong grip. Eventually giving up, Kihyun visibly takes a deep breath and reaches for a bottle of water, chugging it down.

“Sorry Changkyun, Jackson didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’ll go teach him a lesson,” Jinyoung promises darkly as he grabs the back of Jackson’s shirt and drags him away while muttering threats under his breath, Jaebum and Mark following at a sedate pace. Their other friends eventually follow, though Bam Bam waves at Minhyuk happily before he leaves. 

Kihyun visibly calms down when Jackson leaves and after a few minutes of silence, he turns to Hoseok and asks why he was late for lunch. Everyone else starts talking amongst themselves though Changkyun only half-listens to Jooheon and Hyunwoo, inwardly eavesdropping on Kihyun and Hoseok. Their conversation is rather mundane but just hearing Hoseok’s voice is enough to make Changkyun relax and he finishes off the bag of cookies as he listens.

When they finally finish their lunch, Minhyuk promises to find something worthwhile for the weekend as he waves goodbye to everyone and rushes off to get ready for a late shift at the diner. Changkyun trails after Hyungwon and Kihyun as they make their way back to their dorm. They’ve all got last minute studying to do, though when they finally arrive at the third floor of the dorms, Kihyun and Hyungwon follow him to his room.

“Let me get my notes real quick,” Changkyun promises as he lets them in. He searches through his bookbag until he finds the appropriate notes for Lit class. Although him and Kihyun are taking the same class, they both have it at a different time. Changkyun briefly checks to make sure that his notes are in order before he hands them over to Kihyun. “Here you go, hyung.”

“Ah, thank you Changkyun-ah.” Kihyun looks through the notes briefly and sighs under his breath. ”I should probably get going, I need to study.”

“Of course. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Hyungwon stays silent during the exchange and he leans against the wall as he watches them. When Kihyun turns to leave the room, Hyungwon straightens up and lays a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder to get his attention. “I’m staying here, I hope you don’t mind.”

Changkyun startles at the statement but he stays quiet as he watches them. Kihyun merely hums and walks away from the room without a second thought, dislodging Hyungwon’s hand as he looks down at the notes in his hands. Once he’s gone, Hyungwon closes the door of the room softly. Changkyun hesitates before he reaches out to touch Hyungwon’s back. “Are you okay, hyung?” It’s a stupid question, really. Even if nobody else would be able to tell, he just knows that Hyungwon is upset, his stiff posture and the carefully blank look on his face a dead giveaway. 

“I’m fine,” Hyungwon drawls as he walks towards Changkyun’s bookshelf and grabs a random book, thumbing through the pages without really reading them.

Changkyun hesitates once again, but he’s been friends long enough with the other man that he can tell when he’s obviously lying. “No, you’re not. You’re upset,” Changkyun mumbles and Hyungwon’s carefully blank face starts to crack at the seams. 

“I’m fine,” Hyungwon insists with a more sincere tone before he sighs deeply. “I’m just being ridiculous, Changkyunnie. Don’t mind me.” 

Changkyun knows better than to question his statement and he tugs on Hyungwon’s sleeve until the taller man gets the hint and follows him to the bed, where they sit down next to each other after taking off their shoes. He’s hoping that Hyungwon will eventually tell him what’s bothering him, why he’s been looking at Kihyun all day with a resentful glare when the other is too busy to notice, but the moment never happens. Instead, they watch funny videos on the web for close to an hour and Hyungwon rests his head on Changkyun’s shoulder with his knees tucked into his chest as he watches the screen of the phone mutely. He’s tired, though, and he falls asleep soon after even in the uncomfortable position that he’s in.

Changkyun lays him down on the bed with careful movements and when Hyungwon’s finally tucked into the warm covers with the very tips of his toes poking out of the too small bed, Changkyun watches him to make sure that he’s asleep before he sits at his desk and opens his ancient laptop, revising for the final exam in the morning. He turns on the small lamp on the desk and tries to stay quiet but regardless of the noise he makes, Hyungwon keeps sleeping. Kihyun truly wasn’t lying when he said that Hyungwon sleeps like the dead, and only the slow rise and fall of his chest reassures Changkyun that Hyungwon is still alive.

Once he calls it quits for the night, Changkyun yawns and takes a quick shower before bed. He changes into his sleep clothes before he slowly gets in bed beside Hyungwon and rearranges the covers until they’re both covered up. The bed is still too small for two people, but just like he’s used to doing with Hoseok, he wraps his arms around Hyungwon and tries not to fall off the bed while he closes his eyes and resolutely tries to clear his mind and fall asleep quickly, his whole body feeling weary and tired from studying the night away while his thoughts inevitably drift to his boyfriend. 

In the middle of the night, Changkyun almost falls off the narrow bed as he shuffles around trying to get comfortable but he’s stopped just in time as Hyungwon wraps his arm tighter around his waist and scoots them both closer to the wall with a small, sleepy grumble. 

* * *

In the morning, Hyungwon crams for the exam on the way to class while Changkyun watches to make sure he doesn’t bump into other people in his distracted state. Once they get to the quad, they separate ways and Changkyun mentally prepares himself for the last day of finals. 

Hours later once it’s finally over, he drags his feet towards a vending machine near the science building and gets a coke, sipping at the cold drink and sitting down on a bench while trying to will away the headache making his head pound unpleasantly. 

When his phone beeps with a new notification, he texts back Kihyun his whereabouts while he finishes the rest of his drink and waits for the older man. When Kihyun finally arrives, it’s with Hoseok and Hyunwoo in tow and Hoseok greets hello with a small smile before he walks past Changkyun to a nearby trashcan where he proceeds to open his messenger bag and upend it, a flurry of loose sheets falling straight down into the trash can. 

“Okay…” Changkyun trails off with a confused frown and Hoseok turns to look at him and grins.

“You don’t understand how much I hated this class, Kyun-ah.” Changkyun smiles in response and he gets up from his seat, walking towards his friends and trying not to make it too obvious that he’s straying closer to Hoseok. The smirk on the older man’s face is enough to let him know that his actions aren’t as discreet as he had hoped, but at least the other two haven’t noticed.

“How did it go, Changkyun-ah?” Hyunwoo asks as he slows down to walk next to him. 

“I’m pretty sure I passed. Well, I hope so...” Changkyun responds, though he looks at Kihyun out of the corner of his eye, slightly wary that the older man will snap at the talk of exams. Instead, Kihyun turns to Hoseok with a gummy smile and asks for change for the vending machine. Hoseok digs his hands into the pocket of his jeans and hands over a few quarters and Kihyun thanks him before he leaves shortly and returns with a bottled water. He drinks until his thirst is satisfied and then passes it to Hoseok and then Hyunwoo, Changkyun declining the offer for water when it’s his turn with a quick shake of his head. 

“Thanks for the notes, Changkyun-ah,” Kihyun says as they continue to walk, the empty bottle in his hand raised high as he tried to throw it into a nearby trash can. Surprisingly, he makes the shot and the smug look on his face makes Changkyun laugh, though Hyunwoo and Hoseok resolutely ignore Kihyun’s insufferable expression with the ease of practice. 

“No problem, hyung.” Changkyun belatedly responds as he looks around while they continue walking. He doesn’t really know where they’re going but he’s pretty sure that it’s to meet the rest of their friends and he’s proven right when they walk towards the quad where Minhyuk, Hyungwon and Jooheon are waiting for them at one of the many tables. Hyungwon has his head down and Changkyun walks ahead to check on him, the past day’s events making him slightly anxious. Hyungwon’s fine, in fact, he’s just asleep which makes Kihyun grumble about him not getting enough sleep the night before. Changkyun doesn’t correct the assumption, just watches as Kihyun feels Hyungwon’s forehead with the back of his hand as if to make sure that he isn’t feverish or anything like that. Once Kihyun’s sure that Hyungwon really is just sleeping, he huffs and sits down next to him, watching him out of the corner of his eye.

“NOPE, we are _not_ sitting around and twiddling our thumbs, we need to go! There’s a party at Sigma Vega Tau and we’re totally fucking going, I don’t care what you fuckers say,” Minhyuk happily chirps before he picks up Hyungwon’s body in a princess hold and starts walking away. Hyungwon doesn’t stir from his sleep, unsurprisingly. 

“Come back here, fucker, where are you taking him?” Kihyun hisses and Minhyuk laughs as he keeps walking, making everyone scramble up to catch up to him. Changkyun follows, inwardly impressed that the blond can pick up Hyungwon without breaking a sweat. Despite his appearance, Minhyuk actually has muscles which he only uses sparingly because he has Hyunwoo to do his bidding most of the time. 

“Isn’t it a little too early for a party?” Changkyun questions, checking the time on his phone quickly. It’s barely past afternoon.

“Well, um about that... I kind of promised Jeonghan that we would help him set up for the party,” Minhyuk nervously admits as he clutches Hyungwon tighter to himself in self-defense. It works, kind of. Instead of beating Minhyuk senseless right away, Kihyun waits until Hyungwon’s settled in the car and strapped in before he turns around to do just that. Changkyun watches the fight but unlike before where he would have tried to intervene and stop the ass reaming that Minhyuk receives, he merely takes out his phone and records the asskicking for the hell of it. It’s truly fascinating how Kihyun is able to reach up and strangle Minhyuk despite the fact that the blond is stronger and taller than him. 

“Kihyun’s scary,” Changkyun grumbles as he uploads the video to his instagram and a few seconds later, Jooheon likes the post. 

“Are you afraid of him?” Hoseok murmurs with a low laugh as he throws an arm around his shoulder and rests some of his weight on him.

“Of course I am—who isn’t? And please get off, you’re heavy,” Changkyun grunts as he starts to sag under the weight. Nobody is paying attention besides Jooheon, and he only lets out a loud laugh.

“Ha! He called you fat!” Jooheon openly mocks and a few seconds later, he scrambles into the car while trying to escape the older man’s clutches, quickly locking the door. Once he’s safely inside, he laughs once again and points at Hoseok rudely, the mocking words coming out of his mouth loud enough to be heard from outside of the car. Hoseok sighs slowly before he walks away and Jooheon gives Changkyun a cheeky thumbs up, proud of having outsmarted the older man. Changkyun brings up a hand to stifle his laughter once he sees Hoseok coming back, twirling the keys of the car in small practiced circles with his slender index finger. Needless to say, Jooheon’s a little worse for wear when Hoseok deems that he’s finally learned his lesson.

Once everyone’s finally in the car, squished to hell in order to fit, they start driving to the Sigma Vega Tau’s frat house. The whole time they’re in the car, Minhyuk keeps clutching at his neck and massaging the tender flesh and Kihyun watches him with a smug smile, looking proud of his handy work. Changkyun makes a note to himself to never piss off the pink-haired man. 

A few minutes later, he tunes out the loud chatter and glances down at his clothing. He can’t help but grimace at the sight and he wonders if it’s too late to go back home. He’s dressed for comfort, not style, so he is absolutely dreading walking into a frat house while looking like a slob. A comfy slob, but a slob nonetheless.

Once they’ve arrived at the frat house, everyone gets out of the car and Changkyun taps on Hyungwon’s shoulder to wake him up. Hyungwon stirs awake, looking disoriented and confused by his surroundings. 

“Where the fuck are we?” Hyungwon sleepily asks him, rubbing his eyes with his fist. Changkyun resists the urge to laugh at the unintentional cuteness of his best friend. 

“We’re at Sigma Vega Tau’s house. Minhyuk promised Jeonghan that we’d help them get set up for their end of the year party or some shit,” Changkyun murmurs, pulling on Hyungwon’s bunched up shirt to straighten it up.

“You’re kidding me right?” Hyungwon grunts out, eyes narrowing in anger. Changkyun blinks at the abrupt change in expression and he watches as Hyungwon sits up straight and looks around until he catches sight of Minhyuk. As soon as he sees him, he scrambles out of the car and marches towards him and Changkyun follows after him.

“Why didn’t you take me home, asshole!” Hyungwon growls, punching Minhyuk’s arm. “I told you I didn’t want to come to this shitty party.”

After suffering a few more punches, Minhyuk lets out a disbelieving laugh. “Why are you and Kihyun so alike? You’re both so violent and nobody would suspect a thing by looking at you.”

“Shut up,” Hyungwon grunts out, rubbing at his eyes once again and sighing deeply.

“Aw, come on Hyungwonnie, don’t be upset at me. I just want all of us to have some fun, is that so wrong?” Minhyuk pouts, leaning into Hyungwon and nuzzling his cheek against his shoulder.

“Yes,” Hyungwon deadpans. 

“I already strangled him earlier, if that makes you feel better,” Kihyun drawls out, crossing his arms as he watches them. Hyungwon stays silent and he glances at Kihyun briefly before he shakes his head and turns to look at the walkway leading to the front door. 

“Fine, whatever,” Hyungwon sighs. “Lead the way, dummy.”

Minhyuk smiles in response and reaches up to tousle Hyungwon’s hair into a messy disarray. “Thanks Hyungwon-ah. Sorry I kidnapped you and forced you to come.”

Hyungwon flips him off in response and Minhyuk chuckles and walks towards the front door of the frat house to knock while everyone else follows behind and crowds around the entrance. They don’t have to wait long before somebody answers the door. 

“Oh hey guys, you came to help out? Ughh, thank you so much, Seungcheol is going fucking crazy trying to organize everything and there’s been like, two fires already.”

“Don’t be spreading lies, Seungkwanie, there’s only been _one_ fire,” a pretty male defends before he reaches forward to greet Minhyuk with a brief hug. “Thanks for coming to help, everyone.”

It’s not like they had a choice considering Minhyuk had practically forced them to but nobody voices out an objection to the statement as they walk inside and greet the occupants scattered around the room, walking back and forth across the house as they prepare for the party. Changkyun gets introduced to Jeonghan for the second time but he still recognizes the pretty male from Mark’s party many months ago. To his embarrassment, everyone else greets him with flashy jazz hands and Changkyun tries to ignore the mortified blush on his cheeks before he gives up and hides behind Hoseok, who only laughs at his embarrassment like the complete jerk he is.

Luckily for Changkyun, they start actually doing work soon after and he relaxes a bit as everyone devotes their attention to the list of tasks that they’re given. He clams up when he’s singled out to help somebody carry in the sound equipment for the party, but once he recognizes Soonyoung, the other person assigned to help him with the task, he actually feels relieved. It’s been a few days since he’s seen the new diner employee and Soonyoung looks a lot more carefree than he did before exams started as he walks towards Changkyun with a large smile on his face.

“Hi, Changkyun!”

“Oh, hey, Soonyoung hyung.”

“We’re practically the same age, you know, you don’t have to use honorifics.”

“Ah, okay, if you’re sure,” Changkyun asks hesitantly and the cheerful raven laughs. “Wow, you’re actually polite unlike the brats I have to deal with everyday.”

“I resent that!” somebody yells as they pass by and Hoseok snorts as he walks by them on his way to the kitchen. 

Changkyun gets the sudden urge to trip the older man but Soonyoung doesn’t seem to notice the interaction. Changkyun follows Soonyoung outside to a white van parked on the curb of the street and they both start transferring sound equipment inside. There’s a whole bunch of strange equipment that Changkyun doesn’t recognize and he kind of feels like an idiot once he comments that he’s only ever seen bands use keytars before. 

“Oh, it is for our band. Our whole fraternity is pretty much a band actually, we don’t do anything actually relating to sports,” Soonyoung explains as he starts wrapping a cable into a neat coil. “We’re all in the music program so tonight is mostly like a gig for us, except we invite people to come watch us instead of going out and trying to find a shitty bar to let us perform. That’s mostly why we made the frat, so we could have a place to practice as one all together.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Changkyun stutters out, ruffling his hair in slight aggravation over saying something embarrassing once again. “Sorry for saying something stupid.” 

Soonyoung frowns and stops coiling the cable in his hands for a second as he stares at Changkyun before he continues the motion at a slower pace. “Hakyeon and Minhyuk said that you were shy with strangers, but they didn’t say that you have self-confidence issues.”

Changkyun blinks as he takes in the raven man who looks at him with concern. “I don’t have self-confidence issues,” he states with false bravado. 

“Ah, Minhyuk mentioned that you were stubborn, too,” Soonyoung replies, mouth quirking up the slightest amount. 

Soonyoung is entirely too blunt. Changkyun opens his mouth back and forth soundlessly while he struggles to find an excuse to leave and Soonyoung smiles at him in that reassuring way of his. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

The complement only makes it worse and Changkyun abruptly turns around as he picks up something at random and excuses himself as he heads inside. He hears Soonyoung laughing softly behind him but he refuses to turn around as he heads back inside the frat house. He passes Jooheon in the kitchen as he’s sampling the keg that they’ve set up and on the way back outside, Jooheon stops him with a wave of his hand. 

“Ah, you want to try some, maknae? It’s never too early to pre-game.”

“Well, it’s barely two p.m. so I’d say that it actually is,” Changkyun answers with a wry tone, though he walks forward to take a sip of the beer in Jooheon’s hand anyway. The other two people in the kitchen laugh at the interaction and Changkyun finishes the rest of the red solo cup by himself, going back to refill it a second time once he realizes that if he was feeling nervous now, it would only get worse as the party actually began later on. 

“Whoa, take it easy, tiger,” Jooheon mumbles, pulling back the glass and Changkyun reluctantly lets the cup go. 

“I’m not a light-weight, hyung,” Changkyun reassures and Jooheon smirks before he reaches out to wipe Changkyun’s mouth clean with the edge of his sleeve, wiping away the foam on his upper lip. 

“True, but I’d rather not have Hyungwon kick my ass.”

“You’re exaggerating, he isn’t _that_ overprotective,” Changkyun defends as he grabs Jooheon’s glass and steals one last swig.

“Are you blind?” Jooheon asks, blinking at him and Changkyun rolls his eyes and hands him back the glass before he walks away to head back outside. Even as much as he dreaded talking to Soonyoung again, he doesn’t want to leave him alone to bring in the rest of the equipment since they’re nowhere near finished.

When he finally walks back out to the van, Soonyoung simply smiles at him and Changkyun feels relieved when he quickly changes the subject as if he can tell that Changkyun is still feeling somewhat uncomfortable. They end up talking about the frat and Soonyoung regales him with tales of the previous gigs they’ve had until they’re finally finished with their task nearly an hour later. Changkyun internally wonders why he’d been picked to do such a strenuous task when he wasn’t particularly strong but when he catches sight of Hyunwoo and Hoseok helping to carry a pool table into the building along with four other people, he starts to feel like he actually got off easy. 

When he spots Hyungwon lugging in twenty-four packs of soda, he waves and flashes him a cheeky smile that makes his slender friend flip him off. Changkyun laughs as he follows Soonyoung inside the house and into the kitchen, where he drinks a glass of water as he leans against the countertop and tries to relax. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have much of a reprieve because Kihyun finds him and asks if he wouldn’t mind helping him set up the game room. The whole afternoon passes the same way and several hours have passed as Changkyun goes around doing various tasks. The last thing that they do is finish setting up chairs outside complete with a bonfire as the sun sinks down and the sky darkens to evening. 

After setting down one last chair, Changkyun finally trudges inside the cool building while quietly groaning at the soreness in his arms. He walks straight towards an air vent near the living room and stands over it, feeling the air blowing upwards in a steady current and cooling him down as he closes his eyes and enjoys the sensation.

“You look like you’re experiencing nirvana,” Hoseok comments as he walks forward to tug on one of his wet hair strands.

“I am,” Changkyun exhales and reluctantly opens his eyes as he bats Hoseok’s hand away. “Please don’t touch me, I’m disgusting right now.”

“You’re hot and sweaty, that’s hardly disgusting,” Hoseok smirks as he brings up the towel in his hand and begins wiping at Changkyun’s skin. Changkyun groans slightly before he attempts to take the towel from Hoseok, but it’s useless since the other man’s grip is too strong. Hoseok continues his ministrations as he uses the towel to wipe his neck free from perspiration and dabs gently at his face until he deems Changkyun completely dry. 

“That’s oddly erotic,” Minhyuk suddenly interjects with a mischievous grin and Changkyun startles as he realizes that they’re in the middle of a public place and there’s a ton of people around them as they walk back and forth between rooms. The wide-eyed expression on Changkyun’s face only serves to make the situation appear suspicious but he can't quite help himself. He quickly steps back from Hoseok and ends up making a fool of himself as he trips over the carpet and falls backwards on his ass, yelping loudly in surprise and staring up at Hoseok’s equally surprised face. 

There’s a brief moment of silence before his friends burst out into laughter at the comedic look on Changkyun’s face. “Are you okay?” Hoseok asks, reaching down to pull him up by the arm and Changkyun quietly groans as he stands up once again. He’d landed on his tailbone but he doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so he merely bites his tongue and lies.

“I’m fine,” Changkyun quickly replies and Hoseok stares at him, completely unimpressed.

“Stop lying,” Hoseok murmurs and Changkyun opens his mouth to reply but he doesn’t get a chance to say anything else before he feels a tug on his sleeve and he turns to look at Hyungwon. The older man doesn’t say anything and Changkyun stares in confusion until Hyungwon tugs on his sleeve once again and gestures towards the door.

“Come on guys, let’s go,” Hyunwoo urges as he walks towards the exit and Changkyun finally gets the hint and shadows his friends as they leave the house.

Outside, it’s more obvious that the party’s begun by the roar of cars parking on the lawn, not to mention the sounds of people talking loudly as they walk up to the frat house with loud cheers of enthusiasm, holding huge cartons of beer which were entirely unnecessary considering that the frat house’s kitchen counter was already full with various bottled alcoholic drinks, not to mention the huge keg in the middle of the kitchen. 

“What’s going on, are we leaving already?” Changkyun questions as he follows his friends out into the front yard.

“Yeah, I mean, the party hasn’t even started,” Jooheon pipes up and Hyunwoo chuckles as he pats the brunet’s head in amusement.

“We need to go get ready for the party, since Minhyuk fucking dragged us here without giving us a chance,” Kihyun explains, half-heartedly punching Minhyuk’s arm as he passes him by. 

Minhyuk simply rests his arm over Kihyun’s shoulder and drags him close as he laughs, his eyes crinkling in delight. “You’ll thank me next year, Kihyun-ah. I know you’ve been having trouble getting into the practice rooms this semester so I enlisted Sigma Vega Tau’s help in ensuring that next year, you’ll always have a room when you need it.”

Although Kihyun merely grunts in response, everyone can tell that he’s secretly pleased as the corner of one of his lips curves up and he subtly leans into Minhyuk’s hug. 

Hyungwon snorts softly beside him and Changkyun turns to look at his best friend. In response to his silent question asking if he’s okay, Hyungwon’s mouth tightens momentarily before he forces a small smile on his face and threads his fingers with Changkyun as they follow behind the group on the way to the car. 

Since he’s walking behind everyone else with the exception of Hyungwon who’s walking beside him, Changkyun gives up the pretense and starts rubbing at his ass cheeks as his bruised tailbone continues to radiate waves of pain from the fall earlier. 

“Does your ass hurt?” Hyungwon asks quietly, eyebrows furrowed in concern. 

“Yeah, but for all the wrong reasons,” Changkyun wryly admits and Hyungwon lets out a loud laugh and seems to unwind a little more in his presence, turning to look at him with a bright smile. Hoseok and Kihyun’s combined stares as they glance back remained unnoticed. 

* * *

Hours later, their ragtag group leaves the apartment and cram themselves into the car once again, finally making their way back to the Sigma Vega Tau’s frat house. Changkyun borrowed clothes to wear from Minhyuk and although the pastel pink long sleeved shirt wasn’t something that he’d choose for himself, he can admit that the shirt is flattering in combination with the dark-wash skinny jeans that Jooheon had practically thrown at him after seeing him trying to put on his own loose jeans from the morning.

When they arrive, the frat house is packed full with music blaring out from the windows and the open doors, people spilling out into the backyard where the blazing bonfire is located. The large house has two floors and every single room inside except for the bedrooms are occupied by a random assortment of half-drunk college kids.

Once inside, Changkyun and his friends share a few drinks and talk before everyone inevitably splits up to wander around the party. 

Minhyuk disappears with Hyunwoo in tow, a bright smile on his face as they stop to greet their mutual friends. Minhyuk is extremely outgoing and friendly, and although quieter in nature, Hyunwoo was also really good friends with a lot of dancers and athletes. Together, they probably know almost everybody at the party which accounts for the reason why they’re stopped so often to drink and chat with.

Back in the crowded kitchen, Jooheon swallows down a shot of tequila and hisses at the sting before he wipes his mouth, seemingly plucking up courage before he determinedly walks through the open door leading into the backyard, confidently walking up to a group of people joking around with each other as they stand close to the bonfire.

Changkyun can see him through the window above the sink and he unabashedly spies on Jooheon as he smiles at Gunhee and lays a hand on the dark-haired man’s shoulder, greeting him casually in complete contrast to how nervous he was barely a minute earlier. 

Changkyun becomes so absorbed in watching the proceedings that he doesn’t notice when Hyungwon calls him. It’s only when his friend pulls on his sleeve that he jolts and looks away from the window, his attention shifting to the rest of his friends close by. “Sorry, did you say something?”

“I asked if you wanted to dance,” Hyungwon murmurs and Changkyun frowns slightly until he spots Kihyun on the far side of the kitchen, engrossed in conversation with a few members of Sigma Vega Tau. Although Kihyun had complained earlier about helping the frat members up for the party, in reality he was close friends with many of them since they were all in the same music program. 

“Dance with your own boyfriend, Changkyunnie’s mine,” Hoseok drawls with a slight smirk, leaning against the counter as he watches them while sipping on his drink. His tone is teasing, and Changkyun feels a blush stain his cheeks. Feeling embarrassed, he opens his mouth to tell him off but Hyungwon doesn’t give him a chance as he pulls on his sleeve and drags him away towards the living room. 

Changkyun’s too surprised to do anything else but follow and he quickly turns around to glance at Hoseok, who looks just as confused as he does as he stands there, cup frozen halfway to his mouth. Neither of them know why Hyungwon is acting so weird. Since they’d arrived at the party, he hadn’t shadowed Kihyun like usual and the most telling thing was that he hadn’t asked his boyfriend to dance as would have been the most rational thing to do considering Kihyun loves to dance and Changkyun, for lack of a better word, _abhors_ it _._

Still, Changkyun doesn’t complain as Hyungwon pulls him into the dance floor and soon gets lost in the music, swaying his hips to the pulsing rhythm of the club mix blaring on the speakers with his hands resting on Changkyun’s waist. Changkyun can’t dance for shit, so he just tries not to step on Hyungwon’s toes as he looks around warily, hoping that nobody else is paying attention to his lacklustre dancing. Despite his reservations, he starts to relax after a few songs and his shoulders loosen up as he looks up a few inches to glance at Hyungwon. His expression is tight once again, though once he notices Changkyun’s stare, he quickly attempts a crooked smile that looks a little rough around the edges.

“Hyungwonnie, please tell me what’s wrong,” Changkyun mumbles, leaning in so that the older man can hear him over the music. Hyungwon’s smile wavers and he starts nibbling at the soft skin of his plush bottom lip, worrying the flesh until it reddens.

“It’s nothing,” Hyungwon eventually mumbles with a weary voice. “I’m just over-reacting.” 

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Changkyun cajoles, reaching up to tug on a single tawny strand of Hyungwon’s silky hair. “Come on, just tell me.”

Hyungwon stays silent once again as the song in the background changes to another fast-paced club song. From the kitchen, they hear the sound of a loud shout followed by cheering. 

“Tell me, hyung,” Changkyun insists with a slight whine. He hopes that his insistence doesn’t come off as annoying, but everybody always tells him that he’s stubborn anyway, so he might as well act like it when it really counts.

“Kihyun is so stupid,” Hyungwon says through a thin smile right before his long eyelashes become beaded with clear droplets. “He forgot our fucking anniversary,” Hyungwon reveals with a brittle voice. He bites his lip hard but it’s too late to stop the big fat teardrops that start rolling down his pale cheekbones and he looks stricken with embarrassment, futilely trying to wipe away the tears that keep streaming down his face. 

Changkyun can’t help but stare in disconcertment at the rare scene; he’d never seen Hyungwon cry before and a deep pang of sympathy makes his heart hurt as he stares at Hyungwon losing his composure right in front of him. It’s too sudden, Changkyun has no idea what to do except to pull at Hyungwon’s hand and lead him away from the dance floor into a dark corner of the hallway where he proceeds to wrap his arms tight around him. Hyungwon hides his face in the crook of his neck as his body wracks with sobs that he tries to stifle in vain. Changkyun mumbles comforting words against Hyungwon’s soft tawny hair, ignoring the way that the light pink fabric on his shoulder becomes damp from Hyungwon’s tears. Changkyun doesn’t know how long they spend in that dark little corner but his legs get sore of holding up his best friend’s weight, trying to ignore the few worried stares that they receive from passing strangers as well as familiar faces.

When he sees Kihyun quickly striding forward from the across the hall, Changkyun debates whether to warn Hyungwon. In the end, he decides against it and simply continues to rub Hyungwon’s back as he watches Kihyun take in the scene through wide, worried eyes.

“I’m being so stupid,” Hyungwon murmurs against Changkyun’s neck, bringing up a hand to wipe at his face, trying to dry the tears. “It doesn’t even matter that Kihyun forgot, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s just…why is he being so cold towards me?”

“Hyungwon-ah, what did I forget?” Kihyun quietly interrupts, coming to stand right behind Hyungwon. At the sound of his voice, Hyungwon’s shoulders tense up, though only momentarily before he relaxes through sheer force of will. A second later, he straightens up and brings up his hands to his face, quickly trying to wipe away any sign of tears. Although he somehow manages, his eyes are still red-rimmed and his eyelashes clump together wetly from the tears.

“It’s nothing,” Hyungwon softly whispers as he turns around, blanking his face free of any expression and trying to appear aloof. “Don’t worry about it.”

Changkyun is jealous of Hyungwon’s ability to appear strong and unaffected but in this case, Kihyun knows him too well to be fooled. Kihyun lifts up both hands and places them on either side of his face, cradling his delicate face with tenderness that he wouldn’t afford anyone else. “Tell me what I did, please Hyungwon-ah,” Kihyun pleads low under his breath, and for all of his earlier bravado, Hyungwon ultimately can’t resist the dulcet voice even if he tried to. Without a second thought, he admits defeat and allows the hurt to show on his face as he stares into Kihyun’s brown eyes. When a stray tear drop rolls down his face, Hyungwon wipes at his cheek roughly before he staggers forward and practically throws himself at Kihyun, who quickly wraps him up tight in his arms.

“Hyungwon-ah, why are you crying?” Kihyun whispers, sounding miserable and confused and Changkyun bites his lip hard as he stares at them from a few feet away. The moment has become too intimate now, Changkyun doesn’t belong. He walks away slowly and follows the music back to the crowded living room, sparing a last glance down the hall to see the two lovers caught in a desperate embrace, Kihyun pressing kisses against Hyungwon’s wet cheek while the taller man bends his knees to match Kihyun’s shorter height.

Feeling conflicted, Changkyun exhales deeply and turns around, quickly walking further into the living room. He looks around the room and tries to spot his friends but it’s nearly impossible when there’s so many people scattered around the house. On top of that, the fabric of his shoulder is still damp and he’s having a hard time trying to think past the scene earlier, not to mention that the pushing and pulling of the crowd is starting to get to him. 

With a defeated sigh, Changkyun takes refuge in the corner of the living room, watching everyone dance and chat and feeling out of sorts once again as he fiddles with the long sleeves of his sweatshirt. 

Minutes later, Soonyoung happens to run into him. It’s a relief and Changkyun listens to the other man speak as he relaxes against the wall, letting go of his tortured sleeves as he tries to pay attention to Soonyoung’s chatter. Although Changkyun only speaks a quarter of the amount that Soonyoung does, the other doesn’t seem to be put off by his attitude or his lack of words. 

Changkyun follows him to the kitchen to grab a cup of spiked punch, and after Soonyoung suggest going to the game room upstairs, Changkyun follows while inwardly hoping to find the rest of his friends upstairs. When they get there, Changkyun takes in the scene and tries not to show his disappointment once he realizes that his friends are nowhere to be found here either. 

“Do you want to play, Changkyun?” Soonyoung consideringly asks with a teasing smile on his face, head pointing at the circle of drunk students who cheer as somebody slowly unbuttons their pants. “I’m not playing strip poker, hyung,” Changkyun musters out with a frown on his face.

“I told you that you don’t have to call me hyung. And come on, it’ll be fun!” Soonyoung urges him, elbowing him on the side lightly. “Look, Junhui might lose his boxers next, hah, fucking amateur.”

“First of all, I don’t even know how to play poker—”

“That’s not a problem, I can teach you!”

“—and second of all,” Changkyun continues as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “I would reconsider your opinion on Junhui because I’m pretty sure that he’s losing on purpose.”

Soonyoung laughs disbelievingly and turns to look at Junhui, doing a double-take when he catches the small but noticeable smirk on Junhui’s face as he stares straight at the only other chinese transfer student named Minghao from across the circle of people, sliding down his jeans past his ankles and taking them off completely. For his part, the Chinese transfer student seems to be entirely aware of the attention and he was currently scowling at the ground, trying not to look up. 

Changkyun barely knows Minghao, he’d seen the transfer student only a handful of times but his angry expression makes Changkyun want to be his friend for the hell of it.

Soonyoung continues pestering him to play and after a couple of minutes of resisting, Changkyun eventually gives in. “Fine, I’ll play.” 

The reason he agrees probably has something to do with the strong punch that he’s sipping at, in combination with the variety of drinks he’d swallowed earlier. Although Changkyun’s not drunk, he’d need a good amount more to become truly wasted, he has a good buzz going which allows him to loosen up.

The game room is full of people he hardly recognizes and everything is so noisy and warm from the multitude of bodies exuding heat, but somehow he feels relaxed and carefree despite the lively atmosphere. Changkyun knows that it’s only a side-effect from the strong punch, but he takes advantage of it while he can as he walks forward and sits next to Minghao while Soonyoung in turn sits beside him. Changkyun briefly waves hello to everyone before he turns to Minghao and greets him in broken mandarin. The transfer student is delighted, regardless of Changkyun’s atrocious pronunciation.

“Changkyun, right?” Minghao asks with a small grin and Changkyun belatedly nods, taking the cards that he’s dealt and picking them up, assessing his hand while he chats with the transfer student. 

“Let me explain the rules,” Soonyoung interrupts, leaning in close to lay his arm across Changkyun’s shoulder as he gets comfortable. Changkyun lets him, simply for the reason that the new position allows him to cheat and glimpse at Soonyoung’s cards. 

After having won four rounds in a row and having survived with his clothing intact on all four occasions, Soonyoung gapes at Changkyun incredulously. “You fucking lied to me, didn’t you? You totally know how to play poker,” Soonyoung loudly accuses while everyone laughs. Soonyoung had barely survived with only his boxers and one sock, and the sock itself was practically useless because it had a huge hole in the very front which allowed his bare toes to poke out. 

“Of course I lied, I would have thought it’d be obvious by now,” Changkyun deadpans amidst the roaring laughter in the background. Ignoring Soonyoung’s indignant whine, he picks up his winnings, stuffing starburst candies into the pocket of his jeans and putting a few in his mouth, creating a mish-mash of artificial fruity flavors that mix with the taste of the sickly sweet punch he’s been imbibing. 

With a tired sigh, Changkyun picks himself up from the floor and excuses himself, waving at Soonyoung and Minghao after refusing Soonyoung’s offer to accompany him downstairs. It’s getting close to midnight which is the time that Sigma Vega Tau would start playing and Changkyun’s hoping to find at least one of his friends before the performance begins.

Though he tells himself that he’s looking for his friends, Changkyun heads straight towards the kitchen where he’d last seen Hoseok. Although it’s barely been a few hours since he’s seen him, Changkyun can admit to himself that he misses the other man and craves his company. The last week of exams was so hectic that Changkyun had hardly found time to spend with Hoseok and right now, all he wants to do is to hold hands with his boyfriend and relax, as lame as it sounded.

Unfortunately for him, Hoseok is not in the kitchen but just before he turns to leave, he spots a flash of light colored hair from the window that faces the backyard. Though it’s gone too quick for him to confirm his identity, he instantly knows that it’s Hoseok. Grabbing two cold beers from one of the coolers filled with ice, Changkyun heads outside with a small smile on his face, looking around the bonfire in search of Hoseok. He’s nowhere to be found and Changkyun smile begins to waver as he continues to look around. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he thinks he sees Hoseok before he disappears around the side of the house. Ignoring the sensation of the cold beer cans freezing his hands, Changkyun rushes after him with a bright smile as he struggles to walk through the push of gathered people, murmuring apologies before he forces his way through and continues on his way, walking around the corner of the house where it’s pitch black. The streetlights can’t reach here and Changkyun can’t see a single thing as the tall side of the house casts a dark shadow over the whole area. He walks forward blindly for a few minutes until he finally reaches the porch-lit front of the house, where he finally catches sight of his boyfriend once again. 

“Hoseok—” the words die in his throat and he abruptly stops in his tracks, inhaling sharply at the sight that greets him.

Hidden between the rows of parked cars cluttering the front yard, Hoseok is kissing a pretty redhead, his one-night stand from countless days ago, the same one who’d littered his body with love bites that had taken days to disappear. 

Threading his hands into the bright red strands of hair, Hoseok slowly steps back from the redhead.

_It’s just a misunderstanding, that’s all,_ Changkyun rationalizes to himself as his heart stutters in his chest, beating wildly out of rhythm. _The redhead must have kissed him first and Hoseok was too surprised to stop him. Hoseok would never cheat on me, he isn’t that type of person. Hoseok loves me... Hoseok..._

His desperate hopes shrivel up and die a slow death when he sees the redhead stumbling into Hoseok’s arms once again, eyes closed tight as he whines into Hoseok’s chest. Instead of pushing him away, Hoseok leans down to whisper something into the redhead’s ear, placing his hand on the crown of his head and stroking the mussed hair beneath his fingers softly. Hoseok continues holding the redhead tightly for a few minutes before he finally bends down and gathers the slim body into his arms. Cradling the precious cargo in his arms, Hoseok finds his way through the rows of cars until he stops in front of an old beaten up hatchback and carefully places the redhead in the passenger seat before he gets behind the wheel and effortlessly maneuvers the car out into the road.

Through blurry wide eyes, Changkyun watches the black car drive away into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides*
> 
> Please, feel free to tell me how much you hate me.
> 
> +++
> 
> Sigma Vega Tau is a totally made up frat name. I couldn’t find the greek letter for V so I just named it after a constellation.  
> Also, I thought that Soonyoung was older than Changkyun by a few months.. turns out I was wrong and Changkyun's actually the older one.. Oops..


	8. Chapter 8

Changkyun feels sick as his stomach roils and churns. He only gets a second’s warning before he has to lean over to expel the contents of his stomach, bracing himself against the moss-covered brick wall right next to him. Breathing raggedly into the warm night air, Changkyun tries to calm his racing heartbeat. A few minutes later, another wave of nausea forces him to kneel on the ground as he vomits once again, gagging at the sour taste of acid as it burns his throat. 

Staggering away from the scene, Changkyun inwardly hopes that nobody ever discovers that he was the one who ruined Wonwoo’s prized rosebushes which he’d been bragging about all morning while setting up for the party, proudly declaring himself a garden fairy. At the intrusive thought, Changkyun puts a hand over his mouth to cover a hysterical laugh. He doesn’t know what’s wrong with him, doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing as he wipes his mouth clean with the back of his hand. The rough laugh bubbling in his throat turns into a whimper at the reminder that Hoseok’s cheating on him and his blurry eyes overflow with tears that stream down his face. Walking past the crooked row of parked cars in the front yard, Changkyun starts to walk away from the frat house. 

Half a block away, his legs are shaking too much to support him and he sits down on the paved ground of the sidewalk and hugs his legs close to his chest. Muffling his sobs against the denim fabric covering his knees, Changkyun tries to figure out what the hell to do now. 

He just wants to be alone, doesn’t want anybody else to see him crying and making a fool of himself for having believed that someone like Hoseok, gorgeous and beautiful Hoseok, could ever truly fall in love with him. He wants to go home and punch something, to tear something to shreds with his bare hands, to hurt himself enough that Hoseok’s betrayal is forgotten in lieu of physical pain. He wants to ask Hoseok why he wasn’t enough, why he played with him like a toy. He just...he just wants Hoseok. He wants to hold his hand, he wants to kiss him and lay in bed together and fall asleep in his arms, he wants to share bowls of ramen together and walk next to each other and pretend that he can’t stand Hoseok’s teasing when in reality, it makes his heart beat faster and fills him with fondness for the other man. 

Perhaps it’s fortunate that his cellphone rings at that moment and brings him out of the thick haze of his muddling and depressive thoughts. He’s forced to come back to the present quickly as he sees Minhyuk’s smiley contact picture on the phone’s digital screen. 

“Fuck,” Changkyun curses, using the long sleeve of his pink sweatshirt to wipe at his face, scrubbing at his eyes to get rid of the stubborn tears that keep reappearing no matter how many times he wipes them away.

He ends up missing the call in his frantic haste to rebuild his composure from the tattered shreds that it lies in. He ends up missing the second call as well but when Kihyun calls him the third time, he answers right away, holding the phone away from his mouth to hide the sounds of his snuffling. 

“Changkyun-ah, where are you? We can’t find you and we’ve been looking for a while,” Kihyun sternly questions, voice sounding muted by the sounds of the loud music in the background. 

“Ah, hyung, I just went outside for some air. It’s way too crowded inside, I got tired of being pushed around.”

Kihyun harrumphs at his answer, but Changkyun’s excuse is plausible enough that Kihyun believes his lie. “Well Jooheon says he looked outside and couldn’t find you.”

“Ah, he must have missed me or something, hyung. Anyway, I think I’ll go home. I don’t.. I don’t feel so good.”

“What’s wrong? Did you drink too much? Hoseok’s going to be pissed at you.”

Feeling a sudden stab of pain at the mention of Hoseok’s name, Changkyun scrubs at his reddened eyes one more time and forces out a small husky laugh at the disapproving tone of his voice. “Y-yeah, I just—I drank too much punch. Sorry, hyung. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, okay?”

“What the hell are you talking about? We’re taking you home. Be at the entrance in five minutes or we’ll hunt you down.”

“That’s not necessary, I‘ll call a cab—”

“Four minutes and forty-five seconds.”

Changkyun hangs up the call and runs all the way back to the frat house. When he finally gets there, he’s holding his side from a sharp cramp and he hisses slightly as he slows to a stop, looking at his friends gathered around in a loose circle around the front porch. 

“Where did you go?” Jooheon asks, looking confused, “were you trying to walk home?”

“...Sorry,” Changkyun mumbles, though he doesn’t offer an explanation because he doesn’t really know what to say. He can still feel the acid in the back of his throat and he’s sweaty all over, his wet bangs stubbornly sticking to his slick forehead. He feels like everyone’s watching him and he can’t help but think that it’s because he’s a hot mess. The pink sweatshirt that Minhyuk loaned him is looking a little worse for wear with the long sleeves stretched out from where he’d been pulling on them all night in his nervousness, not to mention that he has dirt and grass stains all over the skinny jeans that he’d borrowed from Jooheon. He hopes to hell that they can’t see his face too well under the dim yellow light of the streetlamps and he looks down at the floor to try to hide his swollen eyes. 

“Let’s go, it's been a long night and I'm still mentally exhausted from exams,” Hyunwoo pipes up softly and everyone unanimously agrees as they get in the car. The ride home is quiet thought that might have something to do with Jooheon’s snoring as he falls asleep with his head on Minhyuk’s shoulder. Changkyun feels tired as well, so he rests his head on the glass window as he blearily looks outside, only barely listening to his friends as they talk about tonight. He thinks that he hears Hoseok’s name but he selectively tunes out the conversation when it happens, trying to contain the stinging in his eyes and the rapid beating of his heart. 

When they finally arrive at the dorm, Changkyun waves to his friends and promises to drink plenty of water and get some rest before he’s finally allowed to head inside the building with Kihyun and Hyungwon following close behind. Changkyun must be out of it because he hardly notices when Hyungwon takes his hand and leads him towards the last door on the third floor. 

Hours later, he wakes up in bed with Hyungwon and Kihyun and he can hardly remember when he fell asleep or how he even got in their room in the first place. His stomach is roiling and churning unpleasantly and there’s a hot tearing sensation crawling up his chest as acid burns his esophagus. Changkyun gets up in a hurry and stumbles into the attached bathroom, barely making it to the toilet just in time to vomit once again. Chest heaving from exertion, Changkyun blinks repeatedly as the light is turned on and he feels a hand rubbing his back in soft comforting circles. 

“Are you alright?” Hyungwon asks, and Changkyun moans in return, trying to push him away because he doesn’t want to subject him to the nasty scent of bile. Hyungwon doesn’t budge and Changkyun has no time to argue when a second wave of nausea forces him to lean over and dry-heave into the toilet, groaning at the awful sensation. 

His stomach eventually settles down, at least enough to allow Kihyun to lift him off the ground. Changkyun brushes his mouth and rinses with mouthwash before following Kihyun and Hyungwon back to the room where he proceeds to stare at the bed for a few minutes. 

“I should go back to my room,” Changkyun murmurs faintly, feeling embarrassed all of a sudden. Kihyun and Hyungwon had just reconciled from a fight earlier in the night and they probably want to spend time by themselves now instead of having to look after him out of some misplaced sense of duty. 

“Do you think we don’t know what you’re thinking right now?” Kihyun answers, strangely quiet. “Come on Changkyun-ah, come to bed and talk to us, or don’t say anything at all and let us comfort you. You’re upset, and that’s okay. Don’t be embarrassed.”

Changkyun groans quietly, trying to hold the tears at bay but as soon as Hyungwon grabs his hand and pulls him into his arms, Changkyun finally allows himself to fall apart. “Fuck,” Changkyun curses, sobbing as he grabs Hyungwon’s shirt and crumples the soft fabric in his fists. “H-hyung, I don’t know what the hell to do.” 

Hyungwon lifts him up and puts him to bed and Changkyun can’t do anything but cry as he relives the moment when Hoseok kissed the redhead, the scene replaying in his mind again and again. Hyungwon’s hug is tight and comforting and Kihyun’s weight is so warm as he lays behind Changkyun and nuzzles into the skin of his nape, arm wrapped around his stomach and rubbing at his tender belly with soft warm strokes that relieve the ache. 

“Do you want to tell us what happened?” Hyungwon murmurs hours later and Changkyun feels like he owes it to him to answer him, just for the lost sleep if nothing else. He opens his mouth but finds that he can’t speak over the lump in his throat. He feels like he has to cry again but his eyes are so dry and painful that he can muster up any more tears even if he wanted to. Instead of saying anything, Changkyun closes his eyes and hides his face against Hyungwon’s shirt.

* * *

The next morning, Changkyun feels awful. His throat is scratchy and sore and his face feels swollen. He drags himself out of bed, trying not to disturb Hyungwon who is still dead asleep. Kihyun is absent, but that isn’t that unusual considering he always woke up early. 

After taking a hot shower that leaves his skin stinging, he walks into the kitchen and pours himself a huge mug of coffee, adding sugar and creamer in his dazed state. He still feels half-asleep but as soon as he enters the living room, he stops in his tracks as he spots his friends gathered sitting on the sofa, minus Hyungwon who is still in the room and, thankfully, Hoseok.

Changkyun can’t quite process their presence yet, or why they’re here so early in the morning when they usually wake up mid-day after a night out partying. 

“Come sit down,” Hyunwoo calmly says, patting the sofa invitingly. Changkyun walks to sit next to him stiffly, trying not to hiss at the ache in his thighs as well as his tailbone. He’d almost forgot about the fall yesterday afternoon but he’s quickly reminded of it as he sits down. 

“We’re going out to the diner in a little bit. Do you want to come or do you want to sleep some more? We’ll bring you something back if that’s what you prefer,” Hyunwoo murmurs, trying to be quiet as he sees Changkyun grimace slightly, as if he had a headache. Instead of answering, Changkyun leans into Minhyuk next to him and sips at his mug of coffee, enduring the sting of hot coffee as it scalds his tongue. He doesn’t really want to do anything but he doesn’t want them to leave either. 

“He’s coming to the diner,” Hyungwon interrupts as he sidles in, rubbing at his eyes sleepily. Changkyun sips at his coffee and doesn’t say anything in return. He doesn’t have the energy to even refuse Hyungwon’s statement because his head truly is pounding. Kihyun leaves for the kitchen and comes back with a cup of milky coffee and hands it to Hyungwon as he sits down on the floor because they’ve run out of sofa space. Once Hyungwon’s drowned the coffee in one shot, they all get up to head to the diner. Changkyun briefly debates going to his room to change out of the borrowed clothes he’s wearing before he dismisses the thought. If he passes by his room, he’ll probably go inside, close and lock the door to avoid interruptions, and fall asleep for a few weeks until he forgets about everything. 

Once they’ve arrived at the diner, they settle into a large booth at the very corner, their usual one. Hakyeon comes to greet them once he recognizes them and he quickly takes their order. Changkyun orders a small stack of pancakes and waits for the food to arrive while he listens to his friends talk. They rib on Jooheon about the non-existent progress he’s made with Gunhee while Hyunwoo tells them about Minhyuk’s wildness after drinking a good four or so cups of punch. 

“He couldn’t even walk,” Hyunwoo informs them before he chuckles at the stubborn pout on Minhyuk’s face that clearly displays his disbelief at the statement. Hyunwoo merely pats Minhyuk’s head to his aggravation. “You were totally wasted, Min-ah, don’t even try to lie.”

“I wasn’t too drunk,” Minhyuk protests, whining slightly. “I was at the right amount of drunkenness. You know, where you can like, hardly stand, but you can _still_ stand. That’s totally the right amount!”

“You’re so full of shit,” Kihyun laughs as he leans over to pop a whole strawberry in Minhyuk’s mouth, effectively silencing him. 

Changkyun idly watches as Minhyuk grumbles at the treatment while he chews on the ripe strawberry, light red juice spilling from his mouth and trailing down his chin. It looks oddly attractive and for some reason, Changkyun’s reminded of Hoseok eating spicy ramen with his lips stained red, broth spilling from the corner of his mouth. At the reminder of the older man, he feels his stomach sinking once again. Changkyun sighs under his breath and pushes away his plate of food, all of his hunger disappearing as he tries to forget about Hoseok and the events from last night. Of course, it works the opposite way and he’s forced to relive the moment and all of his festering doubts about his own self-worth as he vaguely listens to the inane chatter surrounding him. 

A few minutes later, the door of the diner opens as someone enters and, as if summoned by Changkyun’s thoughts, Hoseok appears. He doesn’t even look around the diner, he simply heads towards their table with a quick gait, dodging servers and patrons alike until he stops at their booth. He sits on the very end and Changkyun doesn’t know whether to be grateful or upset. He feels so conflicted as he fights his instincts to look at Hoseok. Exhaling extra slow on purpose, Changkyun turns to look outside at the rather mundane scenery while he dug his fingernails into his palms, leaving crescent-shaped marks behind.

“Hyung, are you alright? You look tired,” Jooheon pipes up and Hoseok just hums instead of answering. 

“Let him eat first, Jooheon-ah,” Hyunwoo intervenes and Changkyun turns around to look at Hoseok, concerned despite himself. Hoseok’s still wearing the same clothes from last night and his hair is tousled in an artful just-got-out-of-bed kind of way. He also has dark smudges under his eyes and he’s paler than usual, almost peaky. The sight makes his heart lurch unpleasantly and Changkyun can’t help the fact that he feels worried for the other, despite his betrayal. 

Once Hoseok’s done eating, he drowns another cup of coffee and sigh deeply, looking wrung out and tired. “Sorry, I hardly got any sleep yesterday. I was up all night with Taehyung—”

Changkyun suddenly feels like he can’t breathe and he quickly gets up from the booth, or at least, he _tries_ to before he hits the edge of the table with his sore thighs. Hissing in pain, he’s forced to sit back down with a loud thump as the table shakes from the impact. 

“Changkyun?” Hoseok asks, looking bewildered and Changkyun glares at the older man as he tries to stop the pained tears stinging his eyes. Shaking off Hyungwon’s hand reaching for his own, Changkyun tries to stand up once again to get out of the booth and his friends must realize that he’s freaking out because they quickly stand up to let him out. As soon as he’s stumbled out, Changkyun tries to leave the diner but Hoseok’s firm grip on his arm stops him before he’s barely taken a few steps away from the booth. 

“Changkyun, what’s wrong? Where are you going?” Hoseok really is too much—his concern looks so genuine and realistic that it drives Changkyun to anger quicker than ever before. 

“I’m not sure what you were expecting, hyung, but I’m not so masochistic that I’d sit here and listen to you talk about how you barely got any sleep last night because you were too busy fucking that redhead! I don’t want to know anything! I don’t want to listen to you talking about him! I don’t want to hear it, I don’t—fuck,” Changkyun hisses under his breath, feeling the threads of his sanity rip apart under the pressure. 

Although he’d tried to be quiet, he’s still somehow managed to attract half the diner’s attention as well as a few of the diner's employees, all of which happen to be his co workers. Changkyun’s friends are all looking at him too, though they look more worried than anything and Changkyun feels shame well up in his stomach as well as the familiar sensation of his stomach churning in warning. He tears himself out of Hoseok’s grip and runs for the bathroom, barely kneeling down in time in front of a toilet before he’s forced to expel the meager contents of his stomach once again. 

A few moments later, he hears footsteps right outside the stall door but he’s locked it so nobody can get in anyway.

“Changkyun-ah, are you alright?”

Changkyun moans into the toilet bowl and ignores the sounds of Hoseok trying to jiggle the door open. Once he’s finished emptying his stomach once again, Changkyun flushes the toilet and walks out of the stall, sliding past Hosek to rinse his mouth with water from the sink. Hoseok offers him a stick of gum and Changkyun reluctantly takes it as he braces himself against the counter of the sink, glaring at the taps instead of looking at Hoseok through the mirror. He wants to leave but at the same time, he doesn’t want to walk past all of the diner’s occupants especially since he knows Hoseok will just follow him anyway and cause even more of a scene. 

“Changkyun-ah, breathe,” Hoseok orders sternly and Changkyun looks up to ask him what the hell he’s talking about until he realizes that he is actually short of breath and it’s contributing to the dizziness that he feels as he leans forward to lurch against the counter. 

“Fuck, what the hell,” Changkyun curses. He has to think about the motions of breathing as he tries to calm down from the panicked mess that he’s in. It must be the thought of actually confronting Hoseok that’s making him so nervous. He focuses on chewing the gum in his mouth, grinding it between his teeth repeatedly. It takes a couple of minutes, but Changkyun finds that the silence helps. 

Looking up and catching Hoseok’s eyes in the mirror, Changkyun briefly thinks about running away, to hell with the people outside. Before he actually has a chance to escape, Hoseok spins him around and pins him in place against the sink with his arms encasing him on either side. “You’re such a little idiot,” Hoseok drawls out, frowning as he stares straight at Changkyun, an exasperated look on his face. Changkyun scowls in return and opens his mouth to curse out Hoseok but his protests are instantly drowned out as Hoseok leans in to kiss him and easily swallows his words. It’s a close-mouthed kiss but Changkyun feels more rattled up than ever before as heat suffuses his body and makes him hot all over. It’s so wrong; he shouldn’t be giving in to Hoseok so easily especially when the other cheated on him, but the teeth nibbling on his bottom lip drives him crazy with desire at the same time that anger boils at his core. Breaking away from the kiss all of a sudden, Changkyun pushes Hoseok away before he clenches his fist shut and punches him in the face, the impact sending Hoseok reeling back a couple of steps.

“Stop calling me that! I’m not an idiot!” Changkyun growls out, shaking his hand back and forth rapidly from the pain. 

“Ah, is that why you’re angry? Because I called you an idiot?” Hoseok softly murmurs, lifting up his head and tentatively touching his mouth, hissing slightly in pain. His bottom lip is split and beads of bright crimson blood start welling up from the open gash before they start to drip down his chin. Changkyun recoils at the sight and steps back, feeling guilty all of a sudden. He hadn’t meant to truly hurt Hoseok, noticing the way that the skin around his mouth starts turning darker as it starts to bruise.

“S-sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard,” Changkyun stammers apologetically as he continues to wring his sore hand. Hoseok stalks forward and Changkyun flinches away from the hit that he’s sure is coming, but instead, he’s forced back until his back hits the counter roughly. Watching the blood trailing down Hoseok’s chin, Changkyun feels ashamed and looks down at the floor to avoid the sharp stare boring into him. Hoseok tilts up his chin with his slender fingers and forces him to look up. 

“So let me get this straight, you’re angry because I called you an idiot, not because you think I cheated on you?”

Changkyun can’t say anything, he’s transfixed by the sight of blood. As soon as his brain processes Hoseok’s words, he snaps out of it enough to glare. “I don’t think you cheated on me, I fucking know. Or are you going to deny that you left with that pretty redhead from the party? As much as you try to deny it, I was there when you kissed him, I _saw_ you.”

“You saw me kissing Taehyung and you’re still apologizing for punching me? You _are_ an idiot,” Hoseok growls. Settling his hands on his waist in a steady grip, Hoseok lifts him up and sits him down on the counter before he settles between his open legs and leans in to nip at the junction of his neck, sucking a bruising kiss to the tender skin. Changkyun gasps at the action but doesn’t make a move to stop the older man, leaning into the hard kiss that Hoseok presses against his lips, licking into the seam of his mouth until Changkyun can taste blood. “I didn’t cheat on you,” Hoseok sighs against his lips before he steps back and sucks at his own bottom lip, trying to stop the gash in his lip from bleeding more. It’s kind of useless because his shirt is already ruined anyway. 

“Please don’t lie to me,” Changkyun mutters back numbly, feeling conflicted as he stares at the bruise on the corner of Hoseok’s mouth. No matter what Hoseok does, Changkyun can’t find it in himself to hate him, even if Hoseok is lying to him even now. He’s simply too in love with Hoseok and the realization is like a knife to the stomach, the sharp edge twisting and twisting around until his insides feel all scrambled.

Feeling soft hands framing his face and forcing him to stare straight at Hoseok, Changkyun allows himself to be moved around like a ragdoll while he counts Hoseok’s eyelashes. It’s an impossible task but at least it provides a distraction from the intense stare he’s being subjected to. “Changkyun-ah, do you trust me?” Hoseok mutters and Changkyun feels the slight shaking of Hoseok’s hands as he waits for a response. 

And damn it all to hell, Changkyun feels himself answering before he can even think about it. “Yes, hyung. I—I trust you.” 

Hoseok sighs in relief and closes his eyes momentarily before he blinks them open. “Then trust me when I say that there’s a reason for what happened yesterday. I didn’t cheat on you, I promise.” 

Heart threatening to burst out of his ribcage and insides still scrambled all to hell, Changkyun can’t help the loud sob that escapes his treacherous mouth, relieved tears streaming down his face at Hoseok’s words. He tries to scrub at his eyes with his bare hands but no matter what he does, the tears keep rolling down his cheekbones.

“Don’t cry, you little idiot, I feel bad kissing you when you’re crying,” Hoseok mumbles but despite his words, he still leans in to lick into his mouth, devouring the loud whine that leaves Changkyun’s parted lips as the tip of Hoseok’s tongue entwines with his own slick appendage, blood and saliva mixing until it pools on the back of his tongue. Crushing Changkyun against his chest, Hoseok continues drawing out soft moans from the pliant mouth underneath while he brushes his fingers against Changkyun’s cheekbones and gently wipes away the stray tears. 

“As much as I hate to interrupt, I need to take a piss and I need you guys to leave cause it would be weird otherwise,” Taekwoon monotones with a straight face and Changkyun jolts back in surprise, breaking the kiss accidentally. A string of saliva connects him and Hoseok together and he doesn’t know what’s more embarrassing as he leans back further until it breaks; the fact that he’s making out with Hoseok and Taekwoon’s caught them in the act for the second time, or the fact that he’s crying in front of somebody who is normally so stoic that he isn’t even sure they have emotions apart from anger, fury, and of course blankness, Taekwoon’s default state.

“Fuck, I’m sorry hyung,” Changkyun stutters out, quickly leaning forward to hide his face against Hoseok’s chest, who’s simply laughing at the exchange, damn him for his lack of shame. Still, when a warm hand settles on his back and continues to stroke at his back in comforting circles, Changkyun relaxes into the touch and closes his eyes tight, trying to will away the lingering tears stinging his tired eyes.

“We’ll be out in a few minutes, hyung. Changkyun needs to clean his face before he’s comfortable going back in public.”

“Ah, of course,” Taekwoon easily agrees. “Go to the kitchen and leave through the back door if you need to, that way nobody will see you.” Before he turns to leave, he stops with his hand gripping the handle of the door tightly. “And one more thing, Hoseok-ah...don’t make him cry again,” Taekwoon murmurs darkly under his breath. 

Changkyun stiffens at the words though he can’t help the warmth that suffuses his body at Taekwoon’s protectiveness. Despite Taekwoon’s subtle threat, Hoseok remains pliant as he settles his hand on the nape of Changkyun’s neck, absentmindedly tracing patterns into the skin. “Ah, hyung, that’s hardly fair. What if I make him cry out of happiness? Surely, that’s acceptable?” Hoseok drawls out with a slight smirk as he stares at the irritable older man.

Despite the provocation, Taekwoon’s face remains blank. “That’s the only time I’ll make an exception,” his monotone voice responds before the door slams shut once again and Changkyun jumps at the loud noise, lifting up his head, glaring slightly at Hoseok for trying to provoke Taekwoon despite the fact that it hadn’t worked. 

“We’ve probably got around five minutes,” Hoseok mutters and raises an eyebrow in question. There’s a brief moment of hesitation before Changkyun licks his lips and reaches up his arms to wrap them around Hoseok’s neck, pressing his mouth to his boyfriends in a deep kiss. The time passes by entirely too fast. 

* * *

After escaping from the diner through the back door like Taekwoon had suggested, Hoseok leads him down the street towards the bus stop. He texts the rest of their friends that they’ll meet them at the apartment and Changkyun doesn’t protest because he still wants to spend time alone with Hoseok.

The ride there silent and Changkyun spends the whole time looking at Hoseok out of the corner of his eyes, noticing that his pale complexion has gotten only worse. When they arrive the apartment, Hoseok is practically dragging his feet. Of course once they open the door, their friends are already there, seeing as they had taken the car earlier in the morning, it only makes sense that they got here sooner than them.

With a loud groan, Hoseok sits down on the couch and sinks into the cushions, quickly putting his feet up and laying across the couch length-wise, stretching his legs out until he’d effectively pushed out Kihyun and Hyungwon off the sofa, who merely grumble and sit down on the carpeted floor in front of the coffee table. 

“What the hell happened to your face, hyung?” Minhyuk asks, leaning forward to look at him closer.

“Changkyun punched me—but that’s beside the point.”

Jooheon glares at Changkyun from across the room and the guilt gnaws at Changkyun’s stomach once again, forcing him to step back from the sofa when he was just about to sit down next to Hoseok. No matter how close he and Jooheon are, Jooheon has known Hoseok longer and considers him his second favorite hyung, right after Minhyuk. 

“Don’t get angry on my account, Jooheon-ah. Changkyun had every right to be upset this morning, considering he saw me and Taehyung kissing.” Noticing everyone’s alarmed expressions, he sighs. ”Please don’t glare at me Hyungwon-ah, let me just start from the beginning,” Hoseok mutters as he reaches for Changkyun’s hand and drags him down to sit on the sofa in between his legs. Changkyun tries to get up again, feeling embarrassed by everything. “Don’t be coy, I’m too tired to argue, Changkyun-ah,” Hoseok whispers and Changkyun exhales loudly before he gives up and relaxes with his back to Hoseok’s chest, looking at his knees in order to avoid catching anyone’s gaze. They’d never officially announced their relationship to their friends and Changkyun’s too afraid to look up, not wanting to see their reactions for fear of what he’d see in his friend’s expressions. 

Oblivious to Changkyun’s discomfort, Hoseok hums low in his throat before he speaks, wrapping his arms around Changkyun tightly and hugging him closer. “Last night after Jihoon informed us that Hyungwon was upset, Kihyun-ah went to go find him and I stayed back to talk to Jihoon and Seungcheol for a while before I went to go look for Changkyun. Before I could leave the kitchen, Taehyung bumped into me and wouldn’t let go. I thought he was being too clingy because of the alcohol at first, and I tried to get him off of me until I realized that he was murmuring something under his breath. He kept saying that he was afraid and that he wanted to go home,” Hoseok murmurs, frowning as if he was remembering the moment in detail. “As soon as I pulled him back to look at him, I knew that he was fucked up. His eyes were too dilated and he wouldn’t stop clinging to me no matter how many times I told him to stop. I left the party to go find his car and take him back home and he kissed me before I could stop him. That’s when Changkyun must have seen us,” Changkyun tenses up at the reminder and Hoseok’s arms tighten around him in a silent apology.

“Did you stop him?” Kihyun questions with an assessing glance at Changkyun, who’s suddenly avoiding everyone’s gaze. In response, Hoseok shakes his head and looks away from Kihyun’s piercing gaze. “He was completely fucked up and I didn’t want to be an asshole and push him away when I knew he’d fall to the ground. Look, I know I should have tried a little harder to stop him, but you weren’t there. He was acting so fucking weird and he could barely stand, he was fucking shaking like a leaf.”

“What else happened, Hoseok-ah?” Hyunwoo interrupts calmly. 

“I took Taehyung to his apartment, I thought his roommate would be there to take care of him but nobody was there when we got there.”

“Oh yeah, I saw Jimin at the party,” Jooheon adds in, suddenly snapping his fingers as he remembers. 

“Well, I had to stay at the apartment since he was gone,” Hoseok continues in a low voice. “Taehyung was acting really weird. He’d have minor episodes of lucid moments where he’d start crying and acting scared before he kind of...drifted off and laid completely still. I decided to take him to the hospital. By the time we got to the emergency room, he was completely pliant and followed everything the nurses told him to do...it was so fucking disturbing.”

“Why was he so messed up? Alcohol wouldn’t have done that,” Minhyuk pipes up, eyebrows furrowed in consternation.

“No, it wouldn’t have,” Hyunwoo agrees as he turns to look at Hoseok once again, expression grimly serious. “He was drugged, wasn’t he?”

Hoseok exhales slowly before he reluctantly nods. “Yeah, the tests they ran showed that it was a mixture of some fucked up shit; a date rape drug mixed with a cheaper variant of a black market aphrodisiac. The dose wasn’t prepared correctly which is how he was able to have some lucid moments and go find help, which in this case happened to be me, apparently,” Hoseok mutters with a rough voice. 

A heavy silence settles across the room and Changkyun’s so stunned that it takes him a little bit to notice the way that Hoseok’s whole body is shaking behind him. “Hyung?” Changkyun mutters worriedly, trying to turn around to look at the older man but Hoseok won’t let him, holding him tight as he leans forward to hide his face at the crook of his neck, breathing in the clean scent of his skin.

“Don’t move,” Hoseok pleads with a tight voice and Changkyun instantly lays still until Hoseok manages to compose himself and reluctantly raises his head minutes later to speak once again. “I couldn’t even contact any of Taehyung’s friends because his phone was locked. I had to call around for a few hours before I managed to get Yoongi’s number and he rushed to the emergency room with all of Taehyung’s friends in tow. Apparently, they had already been looking for him at the party but they couldn’t really find him. And well...Taehyung likes to disappearsometimes without telling anyone, so they didn’t think anything was wrong.”

“Do they know who drugged him?” Kihyun asks, a disturbed look on his face. “There was so many people at the party, it could have been anyone.”

“I’m not sure. The police were investigating last night and I’m not sure what happened at the party after I left. I had to give a statement to the police and afterwards, I stayed at the hospital until the effects of the drugs wore off and I was finally able to talk to Taehyung when he was fully coherent. I told him what happened last night since he couldn’t remember a single fucking thing. After I was done at the hospital, I went straight to the diner since I knew you guys would be there.”

“Taehyung’s okay, right?” Minhyuk asks, looking faintly sick. Nobody had any clue why Hoseok had disappeared last night and it was only after a brief call with Hyunwoo that they found out that he was okay but couldn’t talk since was busy. Now they know exactly why he’d left the party.

“Yes, Minhyuk-ah, he’s okay for now. He’s probably going to need counselling considering the fucked up thing that happened to him, but at least his friends are there to look after him. Yoongi hyung looked ready to kill someone,” Hoseok murmurs. 

“At least you were able to help him,” Hyungwon softly reassures and Hoseok sighs as he closes his eyes and rests his chin on Changkyun’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, I’m glad but at the same time, it’s just so fucked up,” Hoseok mutters. “I still can’t believe it happened.”

Kihyun stands up and goes to the kitchen and comes back with a few pills that he hands to Hoseok. “You should rest, hyung. You probably didn’t get any sleep last night. You too, Changkyun, your stomach has been extremely sensitive and you just threw up everything you had for lunch. Why don’t you both go to sleep and rest? When you wake up, I’ll make you something to eat,” Kihyun softly cajoles with a soft expression. Hoseok doesn’t argue as he takes the proffered pills and swallows them dry, ignoring the glass of water that Kihyun holds out. 

Changkyun groans as he gets off the sofa, stumbling into Minhyuk as he trips over the carpet, the blond man quickly helping him stand up once again with a small amused smile. Hoseok stands up as well, absentmindedly rubbing at his tired eyes. 

“Come on, Changkyun-ah, let’s go to bed,” Hoseok mumbles out, wrapping an arm around Changkyun’s waist and trying to steer him down the hall to his room, though Changkyun looks panicked as he looks back at their friends watching them. “Everyone already knows that we’re dating, Changkyun-ah,” Hoseok reveals, eyes narrowing with a slight frown at Changkyun’s look of disbelief. 

“H-how?” Changkyun stutters out, feeling heat rising to his face at the same time that sweat makes his palms slick.

“Well, it’s not like it’s a secret that I keep sleeping over at your dorm,” Hoseok drawls out and Changkyun opens and closes his mouth in quick succession, trying to think of something to say but he can’t, he simply feels stupid for not having realized sooner. 

“To be fair, I didn’t know until last week,” Jooheon grumbles, looking somewhat pissed. “Of course, it was kind of obvious when I walked in on you guys trying to suck each other’s souls out of each other’s mouths. Thanks for the nightmares, by the way.”

“Aww, are you upset, Jooheonie? Did they scar your innocent eyes?” Minhyuk coos out, reaching out to pinch Jooheon’s cheek who grudgingly lets him though he rolls his eyes with an unimpressed expression on his face the whole time.

“Of course I’m upset,” Jooheon hisses out, “every one of you fucks is getting laid except for me. I fucking hate this family!”

The faux angry look on Jooheon’s face somehow manages to break through the grimness of the situation and everyone ends up smiling at the bickering blond and brunet, who continue to act stupid on purpose with the goal of lightening up the atmosphere. It works a little too well because the others don’t notice when Hoseok and Changkyun slink away to the safety of Hoseok’s room.

Rather than apologize to Hoseok right away, Changkyun takes care of the older man. He can tell that Hoseok is weary and now really wasn’t the time for apologies when the silver-blond was practically swaying on his feet. So without over-thinking the situation, Changkyun follows Hoseok to the attached bathroom and turns on the shower, adjusting the water until it’s the perfect temperature. 

“I”m so tired,” Hoseok groans as he starts taking off his shirt and pants and Changkyun starts stripping as well, taking off his clothes without care and throwing them in the hamper as he follows Hoseok into the shower. They’re both tired enough that the shower is relaxed and soothing, neither of them in the right mind to appreciate each other’s nudity. Changkyun gently scrubs at Hoseok’s scalp with shampoo and after his hair has been rinsed from the foamy bubbles, he takes a warm washcloth to wash Hoseok’s body carefully, making sure to clean his chin and neck from the small traces of dried blood from his split lip. By now, the corner of his mouth is varying shades of yellow, red, and purple and Changkyun feels guilt flooding his whole body as he dabs at Hoseok’s lip gently with the washcloth, managing to incite a soft hiss that doesn’t escape his sensitive ears.

“Sorry,” Changkyun offers quietly, pressing a soft kiss against Hoseok’s wet chin. Hoseok’s body feels extremely warm when he embraces Changkyun, the water sluicing off of their entwined bodies as they stand still in the shower for a few minutes before Hoseok finally reaches for the tap to turn it off and hands Changkyun a soft white towel. After drying off, Changkyun changes into a pair of Hoseok’s pajamas while Hoseok merely puts on his boxer-briefs and a soft white shirt. They get in bed together and Changkyun turns to look at Hoseok, who also lays on his side with his arm underneath the pillow as he looks back Changkyun through a half-lidded stare that reveals his tiredness.

“Sleep, hyung,” Changkyun whispers when Hoseok stubbornly tries to stay awake, heavy eyes blinking repeatedly. Hoseok sighs deeply before he inches closer and lays his hand across the damp skin of Changkyun’s stomach, finally closing his eyes. 

* * *

The next time that Changkyun opens his eyes, it’s to see the soft gray light filtering through the blinds. Blinking slowly as his mind tries to wake up from its addled state, he turns to look at the alarm clock on the nightstand. It’s barely five in the morning and Changkyun doesn’t really know why he’s awake so early. Turning his head sideways to look at Hoseok’s peaceful sleeping expression right next to him, he starts to get an inkling of the reason. Though the room is dim, he can clearly see the dark bruise on the corner of Hoseok’s mouth and the color seems so stark against his milky white skin. Feeling Hoseok’s slender fingers faintly twitching against his bare stomach, he feels guilt eating at his insides. 

He feels so stupid for doubting Hoseok and the knuckles of his own hand are sore and painful, as if to remind him of what he’d done to his boyfriend in his state of anger and jealousy. Clutching the covers tightly underneath his fingers, Changkyun closes his eyes and sighs slowly, gritting his teeth in disappointment at himself. He’s so glad that Hoseok had been there to take care of Taehyung. Although Changkyun barely knows the redhead, he’d only seen him around campus a few times, he can’t help but feel absolutely terrible when he thinks about what Taehyung had to go through. While Changkyun had been throwing himself a pity party, Hoseok had been helping the drugged redhead, staying by his side in his time of need. 

Changkyun’s too absorbed in his own thoughts to notice when Hoseok wakes up, so when the hand on his stomach moves to cradle his bare hip, he startles and opens his eyes to look at Hoseok. 

“You okay?” Hoseok murmurs, voice roughened from sleep.

Changkyun exhales slowly and moves to lessen the distance between them until he’s so close to Hoseok that he can feel his warm breath against his own face. Pressing a soft kiss against his cheek, Changkyun tries to curb the urge to do it again. “I’m fine. Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Changkyun frowns slightly as he takes in Hoseok’s appearance. The dark smudges underneath his eyes are gone and he didn’t appear to be as tired as yesterday but appearances could be deceiving. 

Hoseok just hums slightly in answer and intertwines their fingers together. “Talk to me, I know you’re thinking hard about something. You always have the same look on your face when when you’re holding something back,” Hoseok murmurs, reaching across with his free hand to smooth out the wrinkles between his furrowed eyebrows.

Changkyun just exhales slowly. “I’m sorry, hyung.” He pauses to gather his scattered thoughts before he continues, squeezing Hoseok’s hand tighter while the silver-blond responds with the same action as if to reassure him. “I’m really, really sorry for doubting you and I—I won’t do it again. I’m so sorry for hurting you, I never meant to, I was just so a-angry at you and I’m so fucking stupid for almost ruining—” 

His apology is cut off abruptly as Hoseok places his thumb against his lips, the action so unexpected that Changkyun can only blink at him through blurry eyes. Hoseok wipes at the corner of his eye gently to wipe away the traces of liquid gathering there and Changkyun feels so weak when he realizes that he’s breaking down in front of Hoseok once again, without having properly apologized. Changkyun doesn’t have any right to be upset when Hoseok has gone through so much in the past twenty-four hours. It’s pathetic but Changkyun can’t hide his expressions from Hoseok and he doesn’t even think about lying because the older man knows him too well. 

“You don’t have to look so sad, Changkyun-ah, everything is alright,” Hoseok murmurs, kissing his forehead gently. Though he tries to muffle the sound, Changkyun can still hear the slight hiss caught in the back of his throat at the action, probably from his bruised mouth.

“Don’t forgive me so easily!” Changkyun cries out, mouth trembling. “I fucking punched you after everything you went through the night before!”

“It was my fault too,” Hoseok easily responds, a frustrated look in his eyes. “Do you think I’m blameless? I should have told you about the situation right away, I should have called you last night, but I didn’t. It fucking slipped my mind and I had no idea that you spent a whole night thinking that I cheated on you, and that must have been awful. Besides...no matter what happened, I still allowed Taehyung to kiss me because I couldn't bear to push him away when he was obviously so scared and confused...and I’m sorry, Changkyun. I’m sorry that you had to see me kissing somebody else.”

It hurts to hear Hoseok say that, but Changkyun knows that it’s just his irrationally jealousy rearing its ugly head. The guilt he feels overwhelms the feelings of jealousy by a long shot. “Whatever happened between you and Taehyung, it still doesn’t change the fact that I hurt you, physically. Why aren’t you upset with me, hyung? I deserve your anger.”

Hoseok bites his bottom lip without a second thought and instantly regrets it as he hisses at the pain, bringing up a hand to stop the sluggish flow of blood that wells up from the open gash on his bottom lip. Before Changkyun has a chance to react, Hoseok uses the collar of his shirt to wipe away the blood.

“It’s not that bad,” Hoseok promises with a sincere expression, dark eyes gleaming with a sentiment that Changkyun can’t quite place. Seconds later, Hoseok sighs as he releases his shirt and tentatively touches his split bottom lip. It’s no longer bleeding but the open gash could reopen any second. Hoseok seems to forget about it as he reaches out to caress Changkyun’s cheekbone, feeling the warm skin underneath his fingertips. “I can’t be mad at you, Changkyun-ah. It was only natural of you to feel jealous and upset. If I saw you kissing another guy, don’t you think I would be upset too?”

“But that will never happen, hyung,” Changkyun laughs, slightly hysterical. “Nobody will ever want me, so you don’t have to worry about that happening—”

Changkyun gasps in surprise when Hoseok moves until he’s kneeling above him, placing his arms on either side of Changkyun’s head, completely surrounding him. He’s angry this time, truly honestly angry, and Changkyun’s trying to figure out what he’s said to Hoseok to earn the stern glower that he’s being subjected to. “Do you really think you’re unattractive?”

Changkyun blinks, trying to figure out if Hoseok’s joking. “I’m not—I’m not unattractive,” Changkyun stutters out, practically choking on the words. “But I’m not pretty either. I’m just average…” Changkyun trails off at the harsh look on Hoseok’s face. Even when he’s angry, Hoseok still somehow manages to look handsome. 

“What am I supposed to do with you?” Hoseok hisses out in clear frustration, narrowed eyes locked solely on Changkyun. 

“...sorry,” Changkyun whispers back, feeling tears stinging his eyes. He tries to hide his face from Hoseok’s angry glare but he’s stopped when Hoseok grabs his wrists in a firm hold and places his arms above his head, pinning both wrists to the bed with one hand while the other one tentatively caresses the tender skin of Changkyun’s lower lip. 

“You’ve always been so stubborn,” Hoseok murmurs, closing his eyes tight and exhaling slowly. When he opens his eyes next, his glare is gone to be replaced with his a determined gaze, dark eyes focused solely on Changkyun’s face. “You have no idea how pretty you are, Changkyun-ah. I don’t care how long it takes, I’m going to keep reminding you of it until you actually start believing it. And... I’m sorry. I’m really sorry about that stupid kiss with Taehyung, but it didn’t mean anything, I promise. I only care about you, Changkyun-ah. Only you.”

Changkyun feels his heartbeat thrumming loudly in his ears and he gulps at the intense stare he’s been subjected to. He doesn’t know what to say or what to do but without thinking about it, he pulls his wrists free from Hoseok’s grip and reaches up to tug on Hoseok’s shirt until his pretty face is a mere centimeters away. Changkyun presses a soft trembling kiss against Hoseok’s bruised mouth and wraps his arms around his neck, hiding his face from the older man. He just wants to be comforted, everything is still too much. The past thirty-six hours have been too eventful and tiring and his head is still hurting. 

“Let’s rest a little bit more, yeah?” Hoseok whispers under his breath and kisses the top of his head. He rearranges them both until he’s spooning Changkyun with one of his arms snaked around his waist to rub at his tender stomach softly. Changkyun can only sigh as he’s enveloped in warmth and the soft breath against his nape is enough to calm him down. While Changkyun’s thoughts revolve around Hoseok’s words, the rest of the morning passes by slowly, the constant whirring from the oscillating fan muffling the sounds of idle chatter coming from outside the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad you guys were ready to beat Hoseok's ass because he hurt Changkyun but you can put away the pitchforks now ^^; Hopefully this clarifies things - Hoseok really cares about Changkyun, you guys, I promise! One more chapter to go... *cries*
> 
> Also, I just want to say that I'm so happy about Monsta X's first music show win T_T I was crying so much while watching the show lmao. But seriously, I'm so proud of them, they deserve this and so much more ♥♥♥


	9. Chapter 9

_“Why the hell did I agree to this?”_ Hoseok practically hisses out. 

Changkyun turns to look at at his boyfriend and smirks. The older man looks close to passing out as he grips the safety handles of the bulky rollercoaster seat. The ride hadn’t even started but Hoseok was already freaking out.

“I don’t know, hyung, it was your idea,” Changkyun laughs, though he reaches for Hoseok’s hand and clutches it tightly in his own. 

The ride suddenly starts moving, chugging along slowly as deep vibrations start to shake their seats.

“My idea was to come to the amusement park and play kiddie games! I didn’t actually think you would want to ride the roller coasters, you have acrophobia!” Hoseok yells over the excited whooping of the other passengers.

“So do you, hyung, but what else are you supposed to do at an amusement park? We’ve already played ring toss like thirty fucking times and we’ve only won twice!”

When the ride starts moving higher towards an intimidating peak, Hoseok whimpers under his breath and Changkyun feels his stomach drop down unpleasantly. Changkyun really _is_ afraid of heights so when their seats angle down towards the direction of the long drop ahead of them, he closes his eyes. He hates this part, the dizzying view down below and the uncertainty in his gut about their safety—surely, they’d inspected the roller-coaster multiple times before allowing people to actually ride it? Right? _Right?!_

He forgets about everything else as the hand around his tightens in a deathly grip and he opens his eyes and quickly turns to look at Hoseok, poor terrified Hoseok who looks completely pissed despite his anxiety. He’s probably trying to remain angry because if he doesn’t, he’ll cry and Changkyun becomes enamored by the sight, as cruel as that sounds. It probably has something to do with the fact that Hoseok cares about him enough to ride the rollercoaster in the first place even though it’s perfectly clear that he’s terrified out of his mind. 

“I hate you,” Hoseok hisses with a teary-eyed glower and Changkyun can’t help it, he grins. 

“No you don’t.” With a loud groan of machinery, the ride angles down almost vertically and abruptly _drops_ and Changkyun yells loudly in excitement while Hoseok just yells, letting out a high-pitched girly scream that he’ll vehemently deny later on for the sake of his pride. 

_“Eooommmmaaaa!”_

When the ride is finally over an indefinite amount of time later, they both walk away on shaking legs and feeling distinctly nauseous. “We’re not riding another rollercoaster _ever a-fucking-gain_ ,” Hoseok hisses under his breath, but his angry tone is ruined by warbling of his voice and the tears glittering at the corners of his eyes. 

“Okay, never again,” Changkyun solemnly promises through tight stifled laughter, reaching up to place his lips against Hoseok’s warm mouth. He reaches up to wipe at the stray teardrops clinging to the silver-blond’s thick lashes and the beauty mark underneath Hoseok’s eye seems to glimmer with liquid so he kisses it too and licks away the salt from his lips.

Despite the affection, Hoseok looks unimpressed as he quickly scrubs at his red-rimmed eyes. “Are you done laughing at me, you brat?”

“I’m not laughing at you,” Changkyun mumbles back, his lips trembling from the effort of holding in his mirth. At Hoseok’s unimpressed glare, a few bubbles of laughter manage to escape past his lips. “Sorry hyung, but you look really cute like this,” Changkyun admits, reaching up to poke at Hoseok’s soft cheek. Hoseok growls and Changkyun sticks out his tongue and laughs before he turns around and runs away from the older man, looking over his shoulder at Hoseok pursuing him while dodging and weaving through the crowd. The chase doesn’t last long and Changkyun allows himself to be caught after a few minutes as Hoseok pushes him over into the grass, wheezing from laughter as Hoseok tickles his sides with relentless fingers. He stops torturing Changkyun after a few minutes and outstretches his arm to lift him off the ground while Changkyun’s soft giggles die down. 

“You know, you didn’t actually have to get on the ride with me,” Changkyun snickers as he rubs at the seat of his pants, wiping away the stray bits of grass that stick to him. 

“I know, but I didn’t want you to go by yourself,” Hoseok reveals as they unanimously walk towards the food stalls that line the park. There’s quite a few stalls all offering fresh hot food and despite the earlier excitement, Changkyun’s stomach rumbles loudly as if to remind him that he hasn’t had dinner yet. Hoseok laughs at the sound and Changkyun pushes him away but a few minutes later, they walk away from the busy food stalls with huge slices of pizza and a large drink to share between them both.

They sit on a small table near one of the food stalls and Changkyun bites into the hot greasy slice of pizza, trying to appear neat while he inwardly wants to stuff the whole thing in his mouth all at once. He’s barely able to restrain himself and when the pizza is finished, he rubs at his stomach and groans. 

“I ate too much,” Changkyun admits, huffing slightly as he considers undoing the button of his pants. 

“Good, now you’ll be too full to do anything else,” Hoseok mutters under his breath and Changkyun sends a disarming, sickly sweet smile at his boyfriend. 

“ _Fuck me_ ,” Hoseok groans at the sight and with good reason because twenty minutes later, they’re both in front of the line waiting to get into the haunted house attraction.

“Are you trying to punish me? This feels like you’re trying to punish me...are you still jealous cause Taehyung kissed me? Cause I’ll go and deck him in the face if it’ll make you feel better,” Hoseok says with a grimly serious expression on his face, stoically trying to ignore the shrill screams coming from inside the haunted house. Changkyun lets out a disbelieving laugh, instantly feeling bad about laughing but unable to help himself. 

“Yah! That’s a little too mean, Hoseok hyung,” a voice whines out from behind. Changkyun and Hoseok spin around and come face to face with Taehyung. Changkyun feels his stomach sinking and he can’t find it in himself to say anything as he stares at the pretty redhead from up close. He’s so good looking that Changkyun feels extremely inadequate standing next to Hoseok and he can’t help the flare of jealousy that makes his whole body heat up from the inside. 

“Don’t look at me like that, I would totally deck you in the face if that meant I could escape from this hell hole,” Hoseok snarks out, looking completely unapologetic. 

“I hate to say this, but I’d punch you in the mouth for a lamb skewer. Hell, I might do it for free,” a surly voice interjects and Changkyun startles at the sound. For the first time, he notices that there’s somebody standing right behind Taehyung, a black-haired man with a grouchy expression on his face that oddly reminds him of Kihyun. 

“Hyuuuunnggg,” Taehyung whines out, his bottom lip sticking out into a pout.

“Hi, Yoongs,” Hoseok greets with a small smile and the black-haired man walks forward to bump shoulders with Taehyung which makes the redhead smile. 

“Don’t get so familiar with me, Hoseok-ah. Call me hyung.” 

“I’ve known you since we were kids,” Hoseok grumbles and Taehyung tries to contain his laughter at the resentment in his tone.

“I don’t give a shit,” the black haired man shrugs. He turns to look at Changkyun, who shrinks into himself under the other man’s intimidating gaze. “Hey kid, I don’t think we’ve met before. My name’s Yoongi, but you call me Min Yoongi-ssi.”

“Um, okay, Min Yoongi-ssi,” Changkyun responds, feeling slightly dazed. 

“He’s just messing around,” Taehyung quickly assures them although Yoongi shakes his head in denial behind his back. Taehyung smiles as he steps back without looking and stomps on Yoongi’s foot, causing the black-haired man to grunt in pain. “Don’t be intimidated, Changkyun-ah, Yoongi’s just a fluff ball underneath his grouchy exterior.”

“I, uh, seriously doubt that,” Changkyun stutters out without a second thought, inwardly wondering how Taehyung knows his name. Changkyun is feeling completely out of his depth and the screams in the background aren’t helping, unsurprisingly. 

Taehyung tries to hide his grin behind his hand but Yoongi barks out a rough laugh and Changkyun feels his face flushing from embarrassment. Next to him, Hoseok wraps his arm around Changkyun’s waist, drawing him in closer to his side. 

“Changkyun-ah, it’s almost our turn,” Hoseok mumbles as he looks at the few people ahead of them in line.

“Fuck everything about this,” Yoongi mutters out. “Seriously, I hate haunted house crap like this, why did I let you drag me to this shit?” 

“Because you love me?” Taehyung cheekily responds with a boxy grin and Yoongi grumbles but doesn’t refute the claim. When Taehyung leans in to kiss the black-haired man’s lips, Yoongi lets him but the sour expression never leaves his face.

“Oh,” Changkyun whispers under his breath in sudden realization. He had no idea that Taehyung was together with Yoongi and he starts to rethink the interactions between the redhead and the black-haired man. As if sensing his confusion, Hoseok glances at him quizzically but Changkyun doesn’t have time to say anything before they’re being called to enter the attraction. They hardly get a chance to say goodbye to Taehyung and Yoongi before they’re handed twin flashlights and pushed through the door seconds later into a dark room completely by themselves.

Instantly, Hoseok huddles into Changkyun’s back, whimpering at him to hurry up. The attraction doesn’t last for too long so it’s only ten or so minutes later that they leave through the exit, Changkyun huffing in laughter and trying to catch up to Hoseok who is running ahead of him and screaming as the sound of a chainsaw follows behind them. 

“Hyung! Hyung it’s alright, it’s not real!” Changkyun tries to convince the older man. Hoseok just groans and leans over, resting his hands on his knees while he tries to catch his breath.

“What if you’re wrong? What if a serial killer snuck into the attraction and was waiting for some poor, unsuspecting fools to hack them to death?”

“You’ve been watching too many scary movies again,” Changkyun snorts, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Yeah, well, you’d be the first one to die in a scary movie, you dolt. You don’t run towards the chainsaws, you run away from them!”

“But I like the sound of chainsaws, they sound interesting,” Changkyun teases with a smile and Hoseok practically facepalms, dragging his hand down his face and mumbling about suicidal idiots under his breath. 

Changkyun laughs at the sight and huddles closer to Hoseok as they continue walking through the crowded amusement park. Without really discussing it, they both head for the exit. 

A few streets away from the amusement park, Hoseok threads his fingers with Changkyun’s and hums thoughtfully while looking up at the sky. “Doesn't it look a little darker than usual, Changkyun-ah?”

Hoseok is right; though it’s late evening, the sky is darker than usual but Changkyun can’t resist the opportunity to tease the older man so he just squeezes Hoseok’s hand and smirks. “Hyung…it’s night time, of course it's dark.”

“You know exactly what I meant, brat, don’t sass me,” Hoseok laughs at the same time that he reaches over to flick Changkyun’s forehead. Changkyun instantly hisses, reaching up to soothe his burning forehead while Hoseok grins in amusement. 

“I’m gonna tell Kihyun hyung that you’re bullying me,” Changkyun promises darkly and Hoseok snorts at the threat. 

“Go ahead, I can take him.”

Changkyun narrows his eyes and continues rubbing at his forehead uselessly. “Don’t fucking tempt me,” he growls as he glares at the older man.

“I dare you to do it, you little idiot,” Hoseok drawls through half-slit eyes. 

After an intense stare off, Changkyun’s mouth trembles with the effort not to laugh. Inevitably, his lips curve up into an amused smile and he laughs as he leans over to peck Hoseok’s mouth. When he tries to draw back, Hoseok’s hand comes up to rest on his nape, keeping him there for a few seconds longer.

When Hoseok finally releases him from the kiss, Changkyun’s breathing is faster than before and Hoseok looks entirely too pleased at himself. “Let’s go get some ice cream or something, Changkyun-ah.”

“Sure, hyung,” Changkyun answers with a soft smile that slowly turns sharp. “...I’m still going to tell Kihyun that you’re bullying me, though.”

“Yah! Do you want him to kill me?” 

When Changkyun quickly nods in response, Hoseok sighs with resignation and snakes an arm around Changkyun’s shoulder to draw him in closer. “You used to be such a nice boy,” he grumbles. “Hyungwon’s been a bad influence.”

“I’ll be sure to tell Hyungwon you said that, too,” Changkyun smirks and Hoseok groans in disbelief. 

“I’m gonna get fucking double teamed at this rate,” Hoseok mutters under his breath.

When they finally manage to get two ice cream cones from a convenience store, it’s close to midnight. The yellow streetlamps light their way as they walk to a nearby park and sit down with their backs resting against the trunk of a tall tree. Although the seat of his pants instantly gets wet because of the dewy grass, Changkyun doesn’t care in the least. It’s hot outside; the air is muggy and humid and the warm breeze continually blows by them and rustles the boughs of the tree they’re sitting under, only slightly muffling the sound of chirruping cicadas. 

“Thanks for taking me to the amusement park, hyung. I had a lot of fun,” Changkyun says, slowly relaxing and leaning into Hoseok’s side while licking at his ice cream cone.

“Of course, Changkyun-ah. It was nice to take a break from bartending,” Hoseok responds as he finishes the last of his cone and wipes his sticky hands on his denim jeans. “I’m really starting to hate working at that shitty club.”

“Why do you keep working there if you hate it?” Changkyun asks curiously, idly watching a firefly a few feet away from him and staring transfixed at the blinking neon green light of its shell.

Hoseok shrugs in response. “I get tipped extremely well and I don’t have to work as often. I’m still thinking of quitting though,” Hoseok trails off slightly, as if hesitating. “...Actually, Minhyuk’s mentioned before that they could use another server at the diner.”

“Oh,” Changkyun stutters out surprised, turning to look at the older man. “Are you going to start working there?”

“I still haven’t decided,” Hoseok says, leaning in to lick at Changkyun’s melting ice cream cone. “If you don’t mind, I guess I could give it a try.”

“I don’t mind, hyung. I would really like that,” Changkyun answers sincerely and Hoseok seems pleased at his answer, lips pulling up into a crooked smile.

“I’m glad.” 

A silence falls over the both of them, though it’s not uncomfortable in the least. Changkyun keeps licking at his ice cream cone while his thoughts drift to earlier in the evening when they had met up with Taehyung and his friend, Yoongi. Thought remembering the kiss they’d shared, Changkyun knows that they’re more than just friends. He wants to ask about it, though he feels weird for bringing up the subject in the first place. In the end, his curiosity wins over his hesitance. 

“Hyung... do you mind if I ask you something?”

Hoseok’s left eyebrow quirks up, inwardly perplexed by Changkyun’s suddenly serious expression. “Of course I don’t mind—go ahead.”

Even with Hoseok’s permission, Changkyun hesitates to bring up the redhead. Eventually feeling stupid for being so gutless, Changkyun forces himself to speak. “Is.. is Taehyung dating Yoongi-ssi?”

Hoseok suddenly bursts out into laughter. “My god, Changkyun-ah, you don’t actually have to call him Yoongi-ssi, he was just messing with you.” 

Changkyun stares at the ground as he feels his cheeks heat up from embarrassment, inwardly hoping that Hoseok won’t notice. Thankfully, the dark of night helps to hide his burning complexion. 

Exhaling softly and trying to catch his breath, Hoseok leans back on his hands and stares at the rustling leaves above them as a strong gust of wind blows past them. “Yeah, Taehyung and Yoongi recently started dating. Tae’s actually been chasing after sour puss for a long ass time.”

“Then why did he…Why did.. N-nevermind,” Changkyun stutters, feeling his gut churning. 

_Why did he sleep with you?_ That’s what he really wants to ask but he doesn’t have the guts to be so straightforward.

“You can say it, you know. You’re not going to insult me or him by bringing up our past involvement. You mean to ask why Taehyung slept with me if he was in love with Yoongi, right?”

Changkyun bites his lip hard but doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t have to; Hoseok knows that he hit the nail right on the head. 

“I don’t really have an answer, Changkyun-ah. I guess that Taehyung was hurt by being rejected by Yoongi so often that he naturally just started searching for comfort elsewhere. Maybe he was hoping to make Yoongi jealous, but of course, that didn’t work. Yoongi isn't someone who can be manipulated like that. In the end, it took a fucking accident for Yoongi to realize that he truly does care for Taehyung more than a friend should. You should have seen him that night at the hospital; he was so upset and worried. Upset enough to kiss him as soon as he was allowed into the hospital room. Taehyung was over the moon even after... after all of that stuff happened.”

Changkyun gnaws on his bottom lip, remembering the redhead’s bright smile from earlier when they saw him at the haunted house attraction. “I’m glad that Taehyung is doing okay.”

“Yeah, me too,” Hoseok responds, sighing softly. “I’m sorry if seeing him made you upset. I had no idea he was going to be there.”

“It’s okay,” Changkyun quickly reassures him. It’s really not, but it’s not exactly Hoseok’s fault that he feels so inadequate compared to the Taehyung. And, either way, Changkyun is the one sitting next to Hoseok right now instead of the redhead, and maybe that doesn’t make sense considering the fact that Taehyung is actually dating someone else, but it’s enough to make him feel better, somehow. Feeling his chest start hurting for some strange reason, Changkyun scoots over closer to Hoseok and brings up the rest of his melting ice cream, offering it to Hoseok with a small smile. 

“Thanks, I guess,” Hoseok huffs out with a small laugh, leaning down to put the rest of the ice cream cone in his mouth and biting Changkyun’s fingers lightly in a teasing manner. Changkyun laughs at the sensation, but his laugh is quickly cut short as he hears a small, distant rumble. He looks up abruptly, but of course he can’t see anything because it’s dark. “There’s no way—” Changkyun starts, but a second later, a flash of lightning illuminates the park for a few breathless seconds before rain starts pouring down. 

“What the hell?” Hoseok half-laughs, half-shouts, quickly getting to his feet and offering his hand to Changkyun to help him up. A second later, they’re both tearing across the park and making a run for it as the wind blows sheets of rain across the whole city. Unfortunately, they soon come to the realization that there’s nothing to cover them from the relentless downpour; there’s no open shops or restaurants nearby and there won’t be any for a good block or so.

“Well… this is a surprise,” Changkyun laughs as they both slow down to walk at the inevitable realization that there’s no use running anymore. 

“Yeah, this definitely wasn’t in the forecast,” Hoseok chuckles in response, wrapping an arm around Changkyun and tucking him against his side to try to shelter him from the rain, though the endeavour is quite pointless. Ignoring the way his socks starts to squelch, Changkyun huffs out a tiny laugh as they continue to splash through the gathering puddles of rain on the pavement. 

When they finally arrive at Hoseok’s shared apartment, they’re both soaked to the skin. Walking into the dark living room, Changkyun follows behind Hoseok carefully, fully aware that it’s past one in the morning and everyone else must be asleep. His careful steps are proven irrelevant when Hoseok trips over a shoe and falls to his knees with a painful thump and a loud curse spilling out of his mouth.

“Fuck! Minhyuk, that little asshole. I keep telling him to put away his shoes,” Hoseok hisses as he slowly stands up, groaning in pain. 

“Hoseok! Are you okay?” Changkyun whispers quietly with a worried voice, tip-toeing forward.

“I’m fine,” Hoseok groans out, trying to reassure him. When he notices Changkyun’s carefully silent movements and his furtive glancing down the hall, he laughs in sudden realization. “It’s okay, Changkyun-ah. Nobody is here; Hyunwoo and Minhyuk went out clubbing and Jooheon mentioned something about sleeping over at Gunhee’s. They’re recording a song together,” Hoseok explains as he takes his wallet out of his pocket and sets in on the coffee table, hissing slightly as his throbbing knees bend.

“Oh, that’s—that’s good,” Changkyun mouths, feeling infinitely better at the sheer amount of noise his squeaking shoes are making against the linoleum floor. He quickly takes off his shoes and socks and exhales softly, pushing wet strands of hair away from his forehead and shivering slightly as the AC blows a cold draft of wind against his damp skin.

“Let’s get changed before you get sick or something,” Hoseok says as he notices Changkyun shivering, walking down the hall to his room. Changkyun follows after him quietly, grimacing as the soaking wet hem of his jeans leaves a small trail of water behind him. 

Once he’s stepped into Hoseok’s room, Changkyun hesitates before he closes the door behind him. He doesn’t know why he feels so nervous but the complete silence of the whole apartment doesn’t help in the least. 

Hoseok doesn’t seem to notice. He walks across the room and heads for the attached bathroom, coming back with dry towels and handing one to Changkyun before draping the other one across his neck absentmindedly. Afterwards, he opens several drawers and messily searches for clothes to change into. When he finally turns around with the bundle of clothes in his hands, he finds that Changkyun is still standing in front of the door, clutching the towel in his hands with a death grip instead of wrapping it around himself. 

He doesn't say anything at first, but his lips quirk upwards and betray his amusement. 

“Are you okay?” Hoseok finally says, padding across the carpeted floor until he's standing in front of Changkyun. 

“I'm fine,” Changkyun mumbles, trying not to make it obvious that his eyes keep straying down to look at Hoseok’s wet shirt clinging tightly to his sculpted torso. It’s _extremely_ distracting.

“Well, if you’re sure,” Hoseok whispers, letting the clothes in his hands fall to the ground without a care and smiling devilishly before he reaches for the buttons on Changkyun’s shirt and starts undoing them. 

“What are you—what are you doing?” Changkyun asks, watching the older man slowly popping open the row of buttons on his shirt. 

“Exactly what it looks like, Changkyun-ah,” Hoseok responds with a low, teasing voice. “You’re wet and I don’t want you to get cold.” 

“Somehow, I get the feeling that you’re not that concerned whether I’m cold or not. If you were, you’d turn up the thermostat,” Changkyun finds himself mumbling and Hoseok laughs, eyes glittering darkly.

“You’re right,” he admits before he leans forward to kiss him, slowly and carefully. Changkyun hardly even notices when his shirt comes off, as distracted as he is by Hoseok’s lips against his own and the sensation of Hoseok’s hands grazing against his bare skin, fingers lightly tracing over his stomach and going further down until they stop at the waistband of his jeans. 

The metal button of Changkyun’s jeans becomes undone under Hoseok’s deft fingers and his zipper is next, slowly sliding down and sounding unnaturally loud in the otherwise silent room. Exhaling softly against Changkyun’s lips, Hoseok gently cups the front of his damp boxer-briefs, fingers slowly tracing over the hardness of his cock and Changkyun stifles the low moan in his throat, biting his lips roughly and leaning forward to rest his head on Hoseok’s chest.

“Is this okay?” Hoseok asks, and he’s being completely serious this time, fingers stopping in their tracks as he waits to hear a confirmation. 

“Y-yes,” Changkyun quickly murmurs, trying not to rut into Hoseok’s wet denim covered thigh, as desperate as he is for friction against his heated skin. Hoseok seems to notice his desperation because he doesn’t hesitate to hook his fingers into the waistband of his boxer-briefs to slide them down far enough until he can finally wrap his hand around Changkyun’s length, squeezing the hard flesh softly and forming a tight ring as he starts a slow rhythm, going up and down in practiced motions and stopping a few seconds later to lick the pad of his palm until it’s soaking wet with saliva and using the lubrication to jack off Changkyun. 

Desperately trying to muffle the sound of his harsh breathing, Changkyun tangles his hands into Hoseok’s shirt and tugs on it, desperately trying to make it come off. 

“Hyung,” Changkyun groans and Hoseok seems to know exactly what he wants and stops to nip at the skin of his sensitive collarbone before he quickly steps back long enough to take his shirt off, letting it fall to the floor carelessly. Hoseok’s jeans follow and Changkyun’s hardly caught his breath before Hoseok’s fingers are wrapped around him again, working him up at a maddeningly slow pace as he carefully leads him to the bed. Eventually, the back of Changkyun’s knees hit the bed and he falls back on the mattress with a surprised cry. Lips quirking slightly, Hoseok takes the opportunity to completely pull off the jeans pooling around Changkyun’s ankles before he crawls into bed with him, briefly kissing the corner of his mouth before he rearranges both of them until his back is resting against the numerous pillows while Changkyun straddles his thighs, looking worse for wear with his lips reddened and his cock sitting full and heavy against his stomach.

Reaching into the bedside drawer, Hoseok quickly retrieves a small bottle of lube and uncaps it, slathering it in his hand before he slides down his own boxers, wrapping his hand around his own cock to lubricate it and groaning softly at the sensation while Changkyun watches with a wide-eyed gaze, licking his lips nervously. Although he’s been with Hoseok for a few weeks now, this is the first time that they’ve gotten intimate together, and he can’t help the fact that he’s nervous as hell and his heart is going haywire, thrumming hard against his ribcage.

“Relax,” Hoseok murmurs, dark eyes taking in the nervous expression on Changkyun’s face and his fidgeting hands grasping at the covers underneath his fingers.

“I’m fine,” Changkyun murmurs and Hoseok arches an eyebrow momentarily, completely disbelieving. Changkyun flushes red in return, feeling completely out of his depth.

“It’s okay, I’ll take care of you,” Hoseok promises with a smug little grin as he wraps his hand around both of their cocks and squeezes tightly before he starts to slide his hand up and down, alternating his rhythm between slow and fast as he strokes both of them off at the same. 

“Fuck,” Changkyun hisses out softly, stomach twisting in his gut as he bucks into Hoseok’s warm and slick hand.

It feels way too good; the slick lube mixed with saliva and the feeling of Hoseok’s cock rubbing against his own, the friction of his thighs touching Hoseok’s naked skin—everything feels fucking amazing.

Hands reaching up to clutch at the older man’s shoulders, Changkyun moans as he slowly becomes undone underneath Hoseok’s touch. Entirely too soon, Changkyun feels warmth pooling in his stomach, a slow and lazy heat that builds and builds and builds until he feels like he’s melting. 

“Hyung! Slow down, I can’t—” Changkyun futilely tries to warn, stomach pleasantly twisting in his gut as Hoseok leans up to capture his mouth in a hard kiss, teeth clinking momentarily from the force. Barely a few seconds later, Changkyun moans low in his throat and spills into Hoseok’s hand, his toes curling from the pleasure at the same time that embarrassment makes blood rush to his cheeks.

“Sorry, it felt too good,” Changkyun murmurs miserably and Hoseok just groans, voice sounding wrecked as he chases after his own release.

Panting softly and watching the older man stroking himself, Changkyun tentatively pushes away Hoseok’s hand and takes over as he wraps his own hand around Hoseok’s flushed red cock. 

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Hoseok exhales, looking up at Changkyun through half-lidded eyes. 

“I want to,” Changkyun murmurs, trying and failing to stop looking at his own cum dripping down Hoseok’s cock. Inwardly trying to remember what feels good when he jacks himself off, Changkyun tries to do the same thing to Hoseok. After a few slow, experimental strokes, Hoseok laughs breathlessly and presses a small kiss to the crook of his neck, hands coming up to rest on Changkyun’s hips and squeezing the slightest amount.

“You can hold it tighter, it won’t break,” Hoseok teases and Changkyun bites his lip hard and slowly tightens his grip around Hoseok’s cock impossibly tight, watching the older man carefully just in case he messes up. Hoseok hisses through his mouth, but Changkyun’s not stupid enough to think he’s in pain. Changkyun starts over again as his hand follows the familiar motions, inwardly swallowing as he takes in Hoseok’s sweaty skin and his wet bangs sticking to his forehead. 

“You’re doing really good, baby,” Hoseok praises, fingers tracing lazy patterns against his bare skin.

Changkyun feels heat on his face once again at the compliment. Feeling bold, he leans down to press small kisses against Hoseok’s cheek at the same time that he uses his thumb to glide over the wet slit of Hoseok’s cock. 

“Fuck yes,” Hoseok moans and Changkyun can feel the exact moment that he cums, wet hot liquid dripping all over his hand. Barely a second later, Hoseok wraps his arms around his waist tight and hugs him tight, mouth seeking Changkyun’s and parting his lips open with a slow flick of his tongue.

Later, when they’re both clean and lying under the warm covers, Changkyun pulls Hoseok’s spare jacket tighter against himself, hood pulled down and covering his face from view. 

“Don’t even think about it, hyung,” Changkyun warns and even though there had been no sound to indicate that Hoseok had moved at all, his laugh is enough to give him away. For the past five minutes, he’d been trying to pull his hood off completely but Changkyun won’t let him.

“Stop hiding from me, Changkyun-ah, I really don’t care.” Quick as lightning, Hoseok’s hand finally pulls the hood back and Changkyun’s met with the silver-blond’s perfectly handsome face smiling at him. 

“You’re such an asshole! Let me just die from embarrassment in peace,” Changkyun scowls.

“Why? Because you came quick? That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Actually, I consider it a compliment,” Hoseok drawls with a satisfied look on his face.

“It’s really embarrassing, actually,” Changkyun groans, reaching up to pull the hood back down until he can’t see the older man anymore. “I feel like such a fucking virgin.”

“So what if you are? There’s nothing wrong with that,” Hoseok sighs and pulls him closer, and despite his reservations, Changkyun practically melts against the older man, feeling cozy and warm as Hoseok wraps him up tight in his arms. 

“Sorry I called you an asshole,” Changkyun apologizes earnestly and Hoseok’s chest rumbles with laughter underneath him. 

“It’s okay, my little idiot, I forgive you.”

“Thanks,” Changkyun answers slowly, focusing on Hoseok’s heartbeat and feeling warm underneath the jacket. He should probably take it off but his thighs feel sore and he’s too lazy to move, anyway. “Hyung… why do you always call me little idiot?” 

Changkyun can feel Hoseok’s smile against the crown of his head. 

“I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to ask,” Hoseok reveals, lifting his hand to stroke Changkyun’s hair. Instantly, Changkyun feels his eyes getting heavier and he breathes deeply as he waits for Hoseok to elaborate further. 

“Do you remember what I said to you the first time we met?” 

Changkyun blinks slowly as he tries to remember that memorable first lunch at the quad. 

“I don't think you actually said anything to me… from what I recall, you just introduced yourself and then you and Kihyun started arguing.”

Hoseok exhales softly. “So you really don't remember huh? I thought that might be the case.”

“Remember what?” Changkyun asks with mild suspicion coloring his voice, tilting his head up enough to look at the older man out of the corner of his eye.

“The first time we met, it was at the club,” Hoseok begins, looking up at the ceiling and reminiscing. “You ran into somebody and got beer spilled all over your shirt and you looked so upset and embarrassed that I gave you a free beer for the hell of it. You looked so surprised and then you told me that you didn't order anything and I said ‘It’s on the house, don’t worry about it—”

“—’you little idiot.’ ” Changkyun finishes for him, sounding shocked and amazed. “No wonder it sounded so familiar every time you said it. I can't believe you actually remember that, hyung. How is that even possible? The club was packed, you must have served more than a hundred people.” 

“You’re right, it was a nightmare, but I still remember you perfectly because after I gave you that beer, you wouldn’t stop staring at me like a shy little stalker, turning around to catch glimpses of me as often as you could. It was rather amusing.”

Changkyun groans as he buries his head into Hoseok’s chest, slowly remembering bits of pieces from that night and his rather weird behavior. That night was _not_ a good night for him. More than embarrassment, he’s absolutely shocked at the fact that Hoseok remembers everything. 

“Why didn’t you say anything? The next time we met at the quad, you acted like you didn’t remember me.”

Hoseok’s smile fades and his expression turns thoughtful. “I don’t want to upset you, Changkyun-ah, but honestly, I just didn’t know you. You didn’t mention anything at the quad so I didn’t either, it’s as simple as that. I didn’t really care about you back then and I had no way of knowing that Hyungwon and Kihyun would end up so attached to you and that you’d become such a close friend. I’m sorry, that sounds really awful.”

“I’m not upset, hyung,” Changkyun reassures him. He can’t be, not when he didn’t care about Hoseok back then either. Apart from noticing his handsome face, he didn’t really know the older man like he does now. The first time he met Hoseok, he had no idea that he’d be dating the older man and that he’d be lying in bed next to him like he’s doing right now. They’ve come so far in half a year—from complete strangers, to friends, to lovers—and Changkyun wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

“So now that I remember, are you going to keep calling me little idiot?” Changkyun asks, sounding half-hopeful and half-suspicious of Hoseok’s response.

“Duh? Of course I am,” Hoseok smirks and Changkyun growls at the same time that he smacks Hoseok’s chest in retaliation. The older man grunts before he turns sideways and Changkyun ends up sliding off of him, letting out a surprised cry. Hoseok giggles at the sound before he scoots closers until they’re both face to face, breaths mingling together from their close proximity. With a disgruntled glare at being moved so abruptly from his comfy position, Changkyun scoots closer and puts his leg over Hoseok’s waist, getting comfortable once again. 

“Hyung, you’re so mean to me,” Changkyun sulks and Hoseok pats his thigh softly as he laughs, eyes crinkling at the corners. 

“Because I love you and you’re the only one who will put up with me,” Hoseok truthfully reveals with a small smile.

Changkyun’s face freezes in shock and he can’t help but stare at Hoseok with wide eyes while his heart tries to beat out of his chest, thumping restlessly beneath his ribcage. 

“I—I love you too,” Changkyun stutters out and Hoseok laughs as he cups his face gently in his hands, staring deep into his eyes with a small smile on his face. “I know you do,” Hoseok drawls before he presses a warm kiss against his soft mouth. 

* * *

 

**{Halloween, a few blocks past the diner}**

“Yah! I told you guys to hurry up! We already missed the piñata, I can't believe this!” Minhyuk cries out with a loud whine while trying to fix the headband on his head, furry dog ears flapping in the cold October wind.

“Who the fuck has a piñata for a Halloween party?” Gunhee grunts out, pulling on the front of his onesie uselessly and looking pained.

“Jackson does, and is that really that surprising?” Jooheon responds, trying not to laugh at Gunhee’s obvious discomfort. “And stop pulling on your crotch, you look like you’re touching yourself.” 

“So what if I am? It’s riding up my ass so far you wouldn’t fucking believe—’” 

Jooheon coughs to hide his laughter and Gunhee smacks him on the shoulder. 

“I can’t believe I let you assholes talk me into wearing an animal onesie. We look like a fucking safari,” Gunhee grits out, straightening up and frowning at Jooheon. 

“I told you not to bet against MInhyuk,” Jooheon responds, looking smug while the antennas of his bee costume continue bouncing around on top of his head. He continues smiling despite Gunhee’s glare, at least, until one of the vigorously bouncing antennas bops him right on the eye and he lets out a loud, surprised yelp.

“That’s what you get for talking shit, Jooheon-ah,” Gunhee laughs and Jooheon growls but doesn’t say anything when Gunhee leans in to blow air into his eye, trying to relieve the pain.

“As I recall, I was the one who warned you both about betting against Minhyuk. And here we are, looking like a petting zoo,” Hyunwoo calls out, turning around to look at both of them with a blank expression. The fact that he’s wearing a bear costume doesn’t seem to faze him as much as the rest, but that might have something to do with Minhyuk clinging to his arm and giggling to himself, looking pleased at their discourse.

“I hardly think a petting zoo would include a wolf and tiger. Also, why the hell am I a hamster? This is bullshit,” Kihyun mumbles out, crossing his arms across his chest.

“It suits you better than you think,” Hyungwon contemplates, lips curving up slowly. 

“Shut up, turtle,” Kihyun grunts out, and when Hyungwon’s smile abruptly turns into a frown, he bursts out into laughter. “Fuck, your face is hilarious,” he stutters out in between giggles of laughter. “I can't take you seriously with those glasses on.”

“Well, if I have to dress as a fucking turtle, I might as well dress as the best one there is,” Hyungwon sighs as he fixes the dark glasses on his face.

“I just don’t think squirtle should count, especially one from the fucking _squirtle squad_ ,” Jooheon complains and Hyungwon’s mouth puckers the way it always does when he’s pretending to be angry, reaching over to pull on Jooheon’s ear.

“Sorry, sorry!” Jooheon quickly screams out in apology, trying to pull away from Hyungwon’s treacherous hand. 

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to squirtle,” Hyungwon demands with a mean smirk. 

“I’m sorry, what was I thinking, squirtle, our lord and savior, I’m sorry! Please forgive this foolish idiot who hath forsaken you in the darkest hour! He, our magnificent king of water, ruler of bubbles—”

“Okay please stop, you sound stupid,” Hyungwon laughs and releases him and as soon as his reddened ear has been freed from Hyungwon’s spidery fingers, Jooheon runs away, dragging Gunhee behind him. 

“Fuck squirtle! I was lying! I hate him! I hate pokemon! I hate all of you! All of you suck!”

“Shut up, honey bee, we know you love us,” Minhyuk teases back, eyes gleaming brightly.

“Only sometimes!” Jooheon responds, huffing. “Like, one percent of the time. The rest of that ninety-nine percent? Pure hatred.”

“Is that why you’ve got a group picture as your phone’s wallpaper?” Gunhee asks with a smug expression and everyone laughs as Jooheon turns to glare at him.

“Shut up, you’re ruining my cred,” Jooheon mumbles under his breath and Gunhee laughs as he drapes his arm across Jooheon’s shoulders. 

“I’m sorry to tell you this bro, but you don’t have any.”

Jooheon whines under his breath but he still huddles into Gunhee’s side and complains that the wind is cold, which makes Gunhee laugh and hug him tighter.

A few seconds later, Hyungwon abruptly stops walking and turns to look behind him. 

“Hurry up, you two, or we’re going to leave you behind—wait, what are you… what are you doing?”

Changkyun and Hoseok both look up, freezing in place as everyone turns to look back at them. It probably looks a little suspicious, with Hoseok standing up straight and Changkyun kneeling down in front of him, almost right in front of his crotch.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Changkyun quickly stutters out. 

“This is exactly what it looks like,” Hoseok drawls out at the same time. 

There’s a brief moment of silence where everybody stares at the scene before them when all of a sudden, Changkyun whines in embarrassment with his cheeks flushed red and everybody starts laughing.

Gunhee lets out a loud whistle and Jooheon raises his eyebrows suggestively. “Kinky.” 

“Ugh, shut up,” Changkyun mutters out, feeling mortified. “I’m trying to fix his pants.”

“That still sounds really suspicious, Changkyun-ah. Why didn't you lie and say his shoes?” Hyungwon points out, holding his hand over his mouth and trying to stifle the sounds of his laughter. 

Changkyun groans and leans forward to hide his face against Hoseok’s thigh, feeling stupid. Hoseok pats his head softly in comfort, though the nice gesture is betrayed by the smug expression on his face as he does so. 

“You’re only making it worse for yourself, maknae,” MInhyuk points out with a slight giggle. “Come on guys, let’s go. If we don’t make it to the costume contest, I’ll beat all of you unconscious.”

Ignoring the blond’s threat of causing them bodily harm, Hyunwoo simply hums. “Costume contest? Oh is that why we dressed up? I just thought you wanted to humiliate us, Min-ah.”

“To be honest, it’s a little bit of both,” Minhyuk responds with a cheeky smile. “Mostly, I just wanted to see Kihyun in that costume. Doesn’t he look like a pervert?”

“First of all, that doesn’t even make sense. Second of all, you better run before I beat your ass,” Kihyun suddenly hisses and Minhyuk instantly takes off running with a huge grin on his face. 

Jooheon catches him quickly and Gunhee helps hold down the blond while Kihyun smirks at the sight.

“Hold my phone, Hyungwon-ah, things are about to get ugly.”

Hyungwon sighs and quickly tucks the slim phone in his pocket. “Fine, but try not to get blood on your clothes this time.”

“I can’t promise that,” Kihyun mutters low under his breath, cracking his knuckles as he walks towards the wriggling and struggling blond. Hyungwon rolls his eyes at the Kihyun’s ridiculous confidence but he can’t help but smile anyway. After a few minutes, Minhyuk’s high pitched screams die down and he bemoans the ragged state of his costume while everyone continues walking ahead on their way to the party.

Lagging behind, Changkyun and Hoseok follow at their own pace.

“I told you to fix your pants at the diner,” Changkyun groans out, sounding miserable as he smacks Hoseok’s thigh in reproach. Barely an hour earlier, Hoseok had managed to rip through the fabric of his costume, leaving behind the bare flesh of his thigh on display. Changkyun’s gut tells him it was a dare from Minhyuk or Hakyeon but he doesn’t have enough evidence to prove it, apart from Hakyeon and Minhyuk’s muffled laughter whenever they saw Changkyun at the diner, not to mention Taekwoon’s amused lip twitch whenever he caught sight of Changkyun’s suspicious expression.

“I forgot,” Hoseok responds with a slight shrug, though he doesn’t sound apologetic in the least. 

“Well, you’re lucky I had a safety pin in the first place. Otherwise, the outfit might have ripped more and exposed some of your… assets.”

“ _Exposing some of my assets,_ huh? That doesn’t sound so bad to me,” Hoseok ruminates, humming slightly.

“You’re not allowed to do that,” Changkyun mutters with a sullen expression and Hoseok laughs, eyes crinkling at the corners. 

“Why not?”

Instead of answering right away, Changkyun glances ahead to make sure that nobody is watching them. Once he’s sure that he’s in the clear, he ducks down until he’s on his knees again and he quickly undoes the safety pin on Hoseok’s pants, the one that covers the huge rip across Hoseok’s thigh. 

“Because you’re mine,” Changkyun mutters, leaning forward to place a small kiss against Hoseok’s pale skin, right over the recently healed black tattoo. 

Hoseok groans at the touch and Changkyun hides his smile as he quickly places the safety pin back on and stands up again, fixing his hair while his lips tremble from the effort of holding back a pleased smile at Hoseok’s heated gaze.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” Hoseok whispers, sounding slightly breathless. 

Changkyun doesn’t bother to deny it, only rises up on his tippy toes to press a kiss against the older man’s soft lips, tangling his hands into Hoseok’s black locks. The need for air is ever present, but Changkyun soldiers on until the heat in his bones has cooled slightly. When he pulls back, Hoseok’s the one out of breath, for once. Panting against Changkyun’s lips, his eyes gleam with happiness. 

“Come on, hyung,” Changkyun whispers with a crooked smile, reaching for Hoseok’s hand and leading him towards the dark street ahead. Hoseok unerringly follows, squeezing his hand tighter in response and walking faster to catch up with the rest of their friends. 

They’ve got somewhere to be and the night is still young. 

 

 xxx

 

A few minutes later, Changkyun sighs and ruffles his mess hair. “Today’s been such a long day, I kind of want to sit down and rest, to be honest. Do you think Minhyuk will actually beat us if we’re late to the costume contest?”

“Nah, he’ll probably cry,” Hoseok answers with a devious grin. “The prize for the costume contest is like, two hundred and fifty dollars or something.”

“Oh,” Changkyun mutters in surprise. 

Less than a second later, he starts running ahead with Hoseok at his heels, running past all of his friends and enjoying the wind in his hair while he laughs loudly. “Hurry up! We’ve got to make it to that fucking contest! Hyungwonnie! Pick it up, slowpoke!"

“I fucking told already, I’m squirtle!” Hyungwon growls while sounding insulted, though he picks up the pace nonetheless. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for staying till the end ♥  
> xxx  
> Share your favorite scene or piece of dialogue, I'd love to hear it!


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